Kingdom Hearts: Lost Worlds
by Onethirteen113
Summary: (Ignores Re:Mind) Sora goes on a quest to find Kairi, going through many unfamiliar worlds on the way, meeting new people and exploring new locations. Meanwhile, Kairi wakes up after being taken by Xemnas, oblivious to the fact she was struck down by Xehanort, and looking for a way to get back to her friends. Experience the two's adventure as they traverse the lost worlds.
1. Red and Blue part 1

**Takes place after KH3 and during S7**

After using his Keyblade to open a portal to look for Kairi, Sora finds himself waking up in a desert, no clue how he got there.

"Huh? This must be where Kairi is." Sora deduces. "But what world is? Agrobah?" He questions to himself. Sora looks around to see no recognizable landmarks or anything. Just sand. Until, off in the distance he something green approaching. It kinda looked like some kinda cat but upon it getting closer, Sora recognizes it as some sort of vehichle.

In said vehichle There are three individuals all with some kinda futuristic armour. One in red, one in orange, and one in blue though the blue one had a more simplistic looking helmet. The vehicle gets closer and closer until it stops right beside Sora.

"Excuse me, do you know where I am?" He asks the people in the vehicle.

"On the deset. Obviously." The orange one remarks.

"He means where exactly he is Grif!" The red one says towards the orange one.

"Oh." Grif gasps in understanding before turning back to Sora. "I have no idea."

"Since your here, have you seen another blue bastared around here?" The red one asks.

"You mean like your blue armoured friend?" Sora asks him.

"Yes! Except with our helmets and a bit of green mixed with that blue to make some sorta... discussing aquamarine or something." He replies.

"Uh no I haven't" Sora replies.

"Do you know a place where we can get some water? My sargent here decided it would be a good idea to come here with out some." Grif asks.

"Uh... no I don't." Sora replies.

"What are you even doing out here anyway?" Grif asks him.

"I uh..." Even though he wasn't present Sora could here Donald in the back of his mind shouting ORDER! "I'm not sure, I'm kinda lost."

"Wanna come with us? You might be of help to us finding our missing blue." The sargent suggests.

"Help? How? He's a kid!" Grif exclaims.

"He'll probably be more useful then you." The sargent retorts.

"Oh well, we already got a kid in the back." Grif says.

"Wait you found someone else here?!" Sora says with excitment.

"Uh no. I was talking about the blue back there." Grif points back towards the blue mounting the back turret.

"Whuh?" He says, clear that he was day dreaming a second ago.

"Oh." Sora says, disappointed.

"Anyway, I'm Sarge. The fatass beside me is Grif. Whays your name?" Sarge asks.

"Im Sora." Sora replies.

"Alright, hop in the back with Caboose. When you'ved helpped us, we'll help you get unlost." Sarge says.

"Alright." Sora says getting in the back. Its then that Caboose takes notice of Soras presence.

"Oh, hello." He says as the vehicle begins driving again. "Im Caboose. Who are you?" He asks

"Im Sora. Nice to meet you Caboose." Sora says "Can you tell me whats going on?"

"Oh, we're going to look for my friend Tucker because he says he need help with something." Caboose explains.

"So your going to go help your friend, huh. Thats kinda like something I'm doing." Sora says, though says the last part quietly.

"Oh, are we friends now?" Caboose asks.

"Sure, we're friends." Sora determindly says to him.

"Neat." Is all Caboose can say.

After a few hours of driving Grif leaps the car over a sand hill.

"Yeeeeee haaaaaawww!" Sarge shouts as they're up in the air. A second in a half later they land. "I told you not to take jumps bigger than my ye haws. Makes me look bad."

Sora, now fully awoken from the small nap he just took, looks ahead to see some strange temple like structure in a small vally. "Maybe this is progress?" He says to himself.

"Okay, this looks like it." Grif says.

"Be careful Grif, we don't want to get spotted." Sarge says. Just then an alarm sounds. With someone on a loud speaker announces, "Halt, do not come any further."

"I think we've been spotted." Caboose says.

"Punch it, Grif!" Sarge exclaims.

"Shouldn't we listen to him?" Sora suggests.

"Wha? No! We don't know anything about him. For all we know he could.."

Before Sarge can continue he is downed out by the speaker guy saying "And you have entered a mine field."

"Mine field?" Sora says to himself, unfamiliar with the concept.

"Yes a mind field, you idiot." The speaker guy says.

"A your field?" Caboose asks "Who says this is your field, you can't own a field."

"Caboose not hos field. A mine field." Grif says to him.

"You know, the native american culture said the Earth dosen't belong to us. We belong to it."

"What?" Sora ask, clearly confused on everything.

"Guys, he means explosives!" Grif exclaims.

"Ohhhhh." Caboose, Sarge, and Sora all chorus at the same time.

Everyone cautiously gets out of the car to avoid setting off any mines. Sarge and Caboose to the passenger side of the car and Grif and Sora to the driver side. The person on the speaker seems to switch with some one else because the voice is diffrent when he talks to them.

"Do not, under any circumstances move. You've entered an active mind field." He announces.

"Does thinking count as moving?" Caboose asks. "Because if it does I think I might have mov- Ah I just did it again!"

"Shut up Caboose!" Grif yells.

"Well I don't want to get exploded." Caboose retorts

"Don't worry Caboose. I don't think thinking counts as moving." Sora tells him. Caboose then gives a relived sigh.

"Thats good."

"How do we get out of here?" Sarge asks.

"We will guide you out." Speaker person assures.

"Great! We'll just wait for you to come out here then!" Sarge yells.

"What? No! Fuck that! Listen, we're not coming out there, alright? Hang tight, we're gonna pull up the schematics. Don't move." He responds.

"Grif! What were you thinking driving us straight in to a mine field!" Sarge barks.

"Sarge I don't think he-" Sora starts.

"Stay out of this Sora! This argument is for red team members only." Sarge cuts Sora off.

"Huh?" Sora says, confused by red team.

"We'll explain later." Grif says before turning back to Sarge. "You were in the passenger seat, that makes you the navigator."

"What are you talking about?" Sarge asks

"Everybody knows that. Your in charge of directions." Grif explains.

"No the shot gun seat is reserved to the position of respect... and for people who carry shotguns." Sarge holds up his shotgun for emphisis. "See! klik! Quid pro quo. Now Grif, heres the plan. You walk in front of us very slowly."

"No." Grif interrupts.

"When you hear anything that sounds like a small metallic click, or it feels like your legs are being blown off, just say found one!"

"No!" Grif states.

"Thats a little cruel Sarge." Sora criticizes.

"Both of you shut up. I need to think a way out of this." Sarge says

"You mean the mess you navigated us into." Grif says. That was actaully a pretty cool come back, Sora thought. He definitely was gonna use it sometime.

"How about I come over there and navigate my fist through your forehead!" Sarge exclaims. Grif looks around before responding.

"Okay, bring it. Just stroll on over here across the mine field and beat me to death." Grif replies.

"Maybe I will." Sarge grumbles.

"Bring it!" Grif challenges.

"Look, we can here you talking. Do not move. seriously." Speaker guy cuts in, to which Sarge just growls.

"Does it really matter who got us into this mess? Lets just focus on trying to get out." Sora suggests.

"Thats actually a great idea! Why can't you be as intelligent as him Sarge?" Grif asks.

"I am. Thanks to me, red team hasn't lost against the blues." Sarge says "You should be thanking me."

"Yeah, but also thanks to you we haven't won against the blues." Grif says, To which Sarge growls.

"Grifffff."

"While we're at it, I would like to say the reason I don't listen to your orders. Its not because I'm lazy. Its because I don't like you." Grif goes on. Sarge loads his shotgun.

"He's... just doing that for show, right?" Sora asks, but he is ignored.

"Now, I can imagine it can be pretty hard to be an ineffective leader with no respect." Grif says. Sagre fires his shotgun, startling Sora, but doing no damage to Grif. "Who doesn't understand that his primary weapon has an effective range much shorter than most weapons."

"Sarge! Thats not worth shooting him over!" Sora exclaims.

"Coarse it is. How else am I gonna teach him respect?" Sarge replies.

"Besides, hes shot at me plenty of times before. I might as well get something out of it this time." Grif says.

"Alright, I'm back. Ready? We're gonna guide you otta there." Speaker guy announces then. Grif looks to Sarge.

"You know I was kidding right?" Grif nervously asks.

"Heres how were gonna do this, three of you guys will get infront of the car while the last one getting in." Speaker guy says. Sora, Sarge and Caboose get in front while Grif gets in. "Now we'll guide the three guys in front out, while you in the jeep just follow them."

"Okay." Grif responds.

"Im scared." Caboose says.

"It'll be okay Caboose." Sora assures him.

"Alright, start by takeing two steps forward and then turn to your right." Speaker guy says.

"A step aint exactly a standard measurement, buddy." Sarge announces.

"I think he just means take two steps forward Sarge." Sora says.

"Hey, Sora, haven't you learned by now that arguing with him isn't gonna acomplish anything?" Grif retohicaly asks.

"Do you mean two steps like this?" Sarge walks two steps then back up. "Or like this." Sarge attempts to run two steps before setting off a mine. "Okay got it!"

"Now walk four steps to your right." Speaker guy orders.

"You mean our right?" Sarge asks.

"Yes." speaker guy replies.

"Our our right, or your our right?" Caboose asks.

"Uh..." Sora just trys to comprehend what he just said. "I think he just means our right, Caboose."

"Yes, I mean just your right." Speaker guy confirms.

"Is left north to you? On the compass which way?" Sarge asks.

"Right is this way." Sora points with his right hand.

"Oh, thank you Sora, some of us forget sometimes." Caboose thanks.

"You mean, apparently all of us forget." Grif sighs. "You know what I just can't take this anymore, fuck it." Grif says before driving of on his own.

"Yeah, uh, fuck it! Just run!" Speaker guy agrees. Sora begins just rapidly jumping and dashing over the mines to safety, while he sees Sarge hop on the hood of the jeep. He couldn't see Caboose anywhere though 'I hope Caboose is okay.' Sora thinks. He manages to make it clear just before he sees the jeep (or whats left of it) impacts the large vehicle the speaker guy was talking from. Actually, how did he miss it the first time, he wondered.

Sora watchs as Sarge hops off of the jeep and Grif gets out.

"Awww, damnit Grif look what ya did now. You busted up the band new jeep." Sarge complains.

"Me? You were the idiots setting off mines." Grif counters.

"Speaking of which, wheres Caboose?" Sora asks, looking around to find the blue soldier.

"Ah crap. How we gonna explain that." Grif says.

"Caboose." Sora looks to the ground sadly. Yet another friend he couldn't save, he thought to himself. Just then, the speaker guy comes out wearing some completly diffrent variation of brown armour.

"What the hell? What were you thinking?" he asks them.

"We don't need to explain why he died. We're reds! Killing blues is our buisness. And today, buisness is good." Sarge explains.

"Im still confused about that. Your fighting him but hes your friend?" Sora tells them.

"I told you, I'll explain in a minute. Anyway, we didn't kill him! he stepped on a mine and blew up. And he was the reason we were on this stupid mission." Grif argues "So now what?"

"Hmm. I see your point." Sarge says. "I think we should have a moment of silence for the dead blue guy."

"Yeah. I guess thats the least we can do." Sora agrees.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" The man asks.

"Do you mind? We're having a moment of silence. Show some respect." Grif tells him.

"What?"

"Dear lord, We thank you for taking another blue back to heaven today. Or rather not to heaven, to whatever fiery pot you send blues to so they can suffer for eternity. You could've taken Grif... but you didn't. Again. Not sure why, it would've been easy. Those mine things are everywhere. But I guess you know what your doing." Sarge eulogizes. Sora then hears faint screaming become louder and a blue object fall behind the jeep.

"Wow, now that was a big explosion." Caboose pops his head out.

"Caboose!" Sora runs towars him.

"Blue guys back." Grif says

"Are you okay Caboose?" Sora asks.

"Yes, I landed on my head but thats the part thats most used to it." Caboose tells him. "I went really high. Did you get a picture?"

"Uh, no I didn't." Sora tells him. 'Almost forgot i have the gummi phone.' Sora thinks to himself.

"...and now you brought him back. And Grifs still here." Sarge continues. "I hate to criticize but you could've had him land on Grif and squash him! It would've been easy! Just a note, you can take it or leave it. Like I said, not really my place to criticize. Okay, the end, amen."

"Huh?" Sora says confused at Sarges... everything.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?" The speaker guy asks.

"Woah, who are you?" Sarge asks.

"Who am I? Who are you? Im supposed to be here. You guys are accessing an area on lockdown." He tells them

"Lockdown?"

"This a restricted dig site. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, we were just looking for uhhh..." Caboose starts before Sarge interupts.

"We were just passing through on the way to meet up with the rest of out squad." Sarge explains. Sora then spies a jeep similar to theirs, just without the cannon drive up from the dig site and a... something hop out.

"Oh good. Stay here, don't move, don't touch anything." The speaker guy tells them. He then walks towards the recnetly pulled up vehicle.

"Why didn't you asks about Tucker?" Grif asks.

"We don't know anything about these guys! What if their the ones causing trouble for Tucker." Sarge explains. "We don't know if we can trust the yet."

"Oh, right. Because normally you guys are the ones causing trouble for Tucker." Caboose chims in.

"Right thats our job." Sarge agrees.

"You still haven't explain that to me by the way." Sora interupts.

"Long story short, we were fighting each other until we got to know each other and now we work together occasionally." Grif explains. Then The speaker guy comes back with the thing driving the jeep earlier. Upon closer inspection Sora along with the rest, discover its an alien.

"Okay, now we want the four of you t-"

"Woah!" Everyone exclaims.

"Uh oh." Caboose follows up.

"What the- oh right sorry. I'm so used to working with aliens now i forget some people don't have any experiance." Speaker guy apologizes.

"Oh, we've got experiance with these things alright. Some of us more than others." Sarge says.

"You guys fought aliens during the war?" he asks. After a pasue Grif responds.

"Yeah something like that. Lets just say we got a little closer to them than humanly possible."

"What does that mean." Sora asks.

"Trust us. Its best that you don't know." Sarge responds.

"Well don't worry about old Smith here. Hes really friendly." Speaker guy assures.

"Yeah, that doesen't really put us at ease." Grif says.

"Now im sure you've heard of the treaties between aliens and people. We're here to investigate an enegry reading. Rules are now, if they find one of these things, all investigation teams have to have at least one person and one alien. No exceptions." He explains.

"What kind of energy reading?" Sarge asks.

"I can't tell you that. In fact, I need you to leave this area ASAP." He tells them. "The alien diplomats will get mighty suspicious if they find another human squad showed up. We don't want to cause an intergalactic incident."

"Ah, we're used to doing that." Caboose says.

"*clears throat* What my friend means is we're used to following protocol." Sarge quickly says.

"Good. Then you guys just head out on your way and we don't need to report this to anybody." Speaker guy says.

"Dude, we're not going anywhere. Our jeep is wrecked." Grif says before said jeep explodes.

"Damn, okay we'll help you repair your jeep, and then your gone." He says. "Couple of rules while your here. Tgis is a restricted dig site. Everything here is property of the military. Do not fo looking for any artifacts! And do not go anywhere with out telling me. Got it?"

"Yes mom, we got it." Grif answers for everyone.

"Okay, quick quiz then, what are you gonna do if you find an artifact." Speaker guy asks.

"Not take it." Sora says.

"No! That was a trick question. You aren't going to find an artifact because you aren't going to look for an artifact." He says.

"Maybe he new it was a trick question and gave a trick answer." Caboose suggests.

"There are no trick answers there are only wrong answers, are we clear?"

"Yes." Caboose and Sora answer.

"Are we clear."

"Yes." Everyone answers.

"Okay, then head down there. On the left, you'll find some wrecked jeeps you can scavenge for parts. Theres also water down their on the left too. Keep yourselves hydrated. You want some chow? Its with the water on the left."

"Thanks. And we'll be leaving as soon as we can." Sarge replies.

"Yes you will." Speaker guy says.

"For what its worth, sorry for causing you so much trouble." Sora apologises.

"No worries kid." Speaker guy responds. Everyone then heads down into the dig site.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Sarge?" Grif asks.

"Yeah, something just doesen't seem right." Sarge replies.

"I know. Everything is on the left." Caboose answers.

"What do you mean? Everything seems fine." Sora asks.

"Oh I wish, but we are not that lucky." Grif says.

"Maybe your luck can turn around then." Sora suggests.

"I hope so." Grif responds.

As the group heads down Sora takes the opportunity to ask.

"Can you explain whats going on? I mean in greater detail."

"Sure." Sarge says. "Grif, tell him what's going on."

"Me? Why do I have to do it." Grif asks.

"Because I'm gonna be working on the jeep. And I don't trust that dirty blue to explain it." Sarge replies.

"Ughhh. Fine." Grif sighs. Sarge heads off towards a jeep while Caboose just looks toward the temple, lost in his own thoughts. "Anywhere you want me to start?"

"Sarge seems to not trust Caboose, or anyone in blue. Why is that?" Sora asks.

"Oh thats because we were fighting each other. Red vs Blue. And even though we stopped fighting, Sarge still dosen't turst any blues, but then again he was the only one who took the war seriously." Grif explains.

"Why were you guys fighting?" Sora asks.

"Beats me. I signed up for the military to fight some aliens. So I dunno why I was stuck in a canyon in the middle of nowhere fighting a bunch of blue guys." Grif explains.

"Caboose said some one called Tucker was in trouble. Who is Tucker?" Sora asks.

"Another blue. Really annoying. He tries his hardest to be a ladys man but he just comes off looking stupid." Grif says.

"Yes! I'm not the only one who thinks Tucker is stupid!" Caboose exclaims.

"But isn't he your friend?" Sora asks.

"Yes." Caboose simply replies.

"Grif!" Sarge yells. "Head to that radio over there and give Simmons a status update."

"Uh sorry, still explaining stuff." Grif yells over.

"Well, you can get back to it after you call Simmons." Sarge yells.

"Whos Simmons?" Sora asks.

"One of our guys. Hes a total nerd." Grif briefly explains before heading over towards the radio. Sora then turns towards Caboose.

"Do you know why your friend is in trouble?" Sora asks him.

"No, I only know its under this and." Caboose explains.

"Uhh." Sora gives him a confused look. "Okay." Caboose then drops a purpleish device out of where ever he was keeping it.

"Woaps. Don't worry about that, that was nothing." Caboose says as he picks it up and tries to hide it from Soras vision.

"What is that?" Sora asks.

"I uhhh. Look, I'll only tell you if you can promise to keep it secret." Caboose tells him.

"I promise." Sora swears.

"Okay, this is Epsilon." Caboose explains.

"Uh, can you explain?" Sora asks.

"You see, awhile ago I went on an adventure with Red sargent, Griff, Simmons, Agent Washington, and my best friend Church to help go in freelancer city and I got Epsilon for helping."

"Oh, sounds like a fun adventure. Who is Agent Washington and Church?" Sora asks.

"Agent Washington is a freelancer. Hes pretty scary but hes also very nice. And Church is my best friend in the whole world! Hes awsome. He was our leader back in blood vally before we all moved out. He sometimes acts like he doesn't like me but he really does."

"Wow, this Church sounds like a good friend. Whre is he now?" Sora asks.

"Ahhh, hes dead." Caboose responds.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Sora says saddly.

"Oh, don't be sorry, im sure he'll be back. After all I may have accidently killed him before with a tank, but he came back." Caboose answers. "Has something like that ever happened to you?"

"Uh... yes actually." Sora respnds.

"Do you want to tell me, I can keep it a secret." Caboose whispers the last part.

"You see... the reason I was out in the desert was because I was looking for a good friend too." Sora responds "Her name was Kairi. She sort of died, but didn't."

"Like Church." Caboose interrupts.

"Yeah." Sora agrees.

"Was she a computer program too?" Caboose asks.

"What!? Uh no." Sora responds.

"Okay, then she is not like Church." Caboose says.

"We should go check to see if Sarge has made any progress." Sora changes the subject. The two along with Grif head over to Sarge.

"What the heck is wrong with this jeep anyway? Doesn't have a turret." Sarge asks.

"Maybe its just a regular car?" Sora suggests.

"What does that mean?" Sarge asks.

"You know, a regular car. Its mean't more for transportation then combat, so it doesn't have any guns." Sora explains.

"Huh? What kinda car doesn't have a massive cannon on it?" Sarge asks.

"Lots of cars." Sora responds.

"Thats ridiculous. That'd be like saying there is some kinda thing you can wear on your head thats not armour plated, and doesn't offer a 5x optical zoom." Sarge says.

"You mean like a hat?" Sora asks.

"You've been in the military a really long time." Caboose responds.

"Yup, its been a good run." Sarge smiles under his helmet.

"Damnit! No radio here either? Some ones yanked it out. Why they deliberately pull the radio out of their own jeep?" Grif asks.

"Let me take a look Grif." Caboose offers.

"What? You wanna confirm that theres no radio there." Grif says.

"Maybe I can fix it." Caboose suggests.

"How are you gonna fix something that isn't even the-. You know what. No. Fuck it. Go for it. Whatever." Grif says, moving towards Sarge. "Sarge, this place gives me the creeps. Somethings really wrong here. I mean, why would they delibertly pull the radio out of there own jeep? And why can't I get a signal on long range?"

"Something does seem out of place." Sarge agrees. "But maybe we're over reacting."

"Yeah, maybe they're using the radios to fix something else?" Sora suggests.

"And we just so happened to find all the ones that are broken?" Grif questions. "That seems unlikely."

"Hmm, maybe they have one enormous radio somewhere that requires a ton of parts?" Sarge suggests. "Like one the size of a house."

"Once again, unlikely." Grif deadpans.

"What about that big green thing we saw earlier?" Sora suggests.

"Yeah, the mobile base probably has a radio." Grif exclaims. Once Grif is done talking, everyone can hear Caboose muttering to himself on the other side of the car.

"Blue! What are you doing?" Sarge demands.

"Uh, nothing. I'm up to nothing." Caboose responds.

"What is that? What are you doing?" Sarge asks as Grif and Sora spot the guy from earlier coming towards them.

"Uh oh, here comes-"

"Caboose, stop messing with the jeep." Sarge interrupts Grif.

"I'm not doing anything, just ignore me." Caboose assures.

"If you aren't doing anything what would we be ignoring." Sarge questions.

"Uh, Sarge, that guy from earlier-"

"Ignore what I'm not doing." Caboose cuts off. Sarge then takes notice of Soras words and makes a quick plan.

"Okay, you guys follow my lead." Sarge says.

"What?" Sora questions.

"Just let us handle it." Grif assures.

"Hey, whats going on down here?" The guy asks.

"I said nothing!" Caboose exclaims. Sarge clears his throat.

"We're just here, scavenging for parts like you said." Sarge tells him.

"Okay, then hurry it up." The guy says.

"You realize we're not going to fix this in the next 10 minutes, right?" Grif says.

"Yeah, just the sooner the better."

"Why? Whats going on around here?" Sarge asks. Sora half listens as Sarge and Grif try to fish information out of the guy who now calls himself CT, until.

"Now lets-, hey wheres your other guy?" CT asks.

"Uh, what guy?" Sarge asks.

"The other guy."

"Hes right there." Sarge points towards Grif.

"The other other guy!"

"Hes right... there?" Grif points at Sora.

"Thats it! Your either here to investigate us or you're complete idiots!" CT exclaims. "Either way I've had it."

"Investigate?" Grif questions.

"Tell me where the blue guy went, or I'll shoot the orange one!" CT threatens. Sora stands ready to summon his keyblade should he actually fire on Grif. Despite being threatend Grif can only sigh at this.

"Dude, I can save you some time, you picked the wrong guy to threaten. It'll make more sense when you get to know us." Just then an alarm is set off and every one heads towards the mobile base.

"Thats him isn't it." CT says.

"Probably." Grif confirms.

"Alright, move!" barked CT as the three were taken to the mobile base.

"Alright already, we're moving. Don't boss me." Grif complains. The three then see Caboose held up by both human and alien crew members.

"Whats going on up here." CT asks. An alien only replies with two blargs which the four can't understand. "Sabotaging the digger, huh. I knew it. Who sent you here? What do they know about us?" 'Okay, I see what Grif and Sarge were getting at.' Sora thinks.

"Damn it Caboose, why do you keep messing with the vehicles?" Sarge asks.

"Oh, yeah I was just trying to find a home for Epsilon." Caboose replies. "No biggy." Everyone then takes notice of the purple object on the ground. The Epsilon unit.

"What? What is that thing?" CT asks. Then something begins shaking the ground before the sound of rock moving itself is heard, like a stone gate opening. "Shit! Hes opening the temple! Damn it! Are you with him!?"

"With who?" Sora asks.

"Aw crap!" CT exclaims. "Get down there. Kill him if you have to and don't let that door close again no matter what happens!" At that comand, CTs crew heads down to eliminate whoever they were fighting against. As the crew was taking their leave, Our four heros run in the opposite direction to get the hell outta there. Soon gunshots can be heard as members of CTs crew begin to fall. The four seperate with Grif hijacking the digger, Caboose staying on its left side, and Sora and Sarge running up to its right.

"Ha ha! See ya suckers. You just got yoinked!" Grif taunts as he takes control. "The fuck you drive this thing? Why are there only four levers if theres only six directions? Where the fuck is second gear?" The digger begins to move slowly.

"Grif! If your gonna run away in the middle of a battle, at least have the decency to drive faster than we can run!" Sarge calls put.

"Guess the trade off for its size is speed." Sora says.

"Is the emergency brake on? I don't- fuck this! This is stupid!" Grif rants, before he stops and gets out of the digger. The four regroup as CT orders a retreat. They make their way along one of the temple walls until they see a soldier in the same type of armour as Grif and Sarge, but it is a blueish green. He is also carrying a glowing sword.

"Hey guys! Run for the temple! I'll cover you, hurry!" He calls out to them.

"Oh... my... Tucker!" Caboose exclaims. "Is that you?"

"Yeah of coarse its me! Now move!" Tucker demands.

"So... where have you been?" Caboose casually asks.

"What is this? Some kinda fuckin reunion? Move your asses idiots. I'll be right over." Tucker tells them. At that, every one makes a brake for the temple.

"What in sam hill was all that?" Sarge asks.

"Who cares, just move!" Grif demands. The four make their way towards the door and make cover fire until until Tucker closes it. Once its closed-

"Tucker!" Caboose exclaims.

"Hey Caboose." Tucker greets.

"Oh, hey look its that guy." Grif sighs.

"You brought these guys? Are we killing each other today or pretending to work together?" Tucker asks.

"Uh, the pretending version." Caboose answers.

"Oh okay, cool. Whos the kid?" Tucker asks.

"I'm Sora." Sora responds. "Your Tucker right?"

"Yup. Why are you with these idiots?" Tucker asks.

"I got a little lost in the desert." Sora admits.

"Lost? There isn't a settlement around here!" Tucker exclaims.

"I'm very lost." Sora says. "Thats a very cool sword you have by the way."

"Oh this thing? Yeah, its pretty fuckin sweet. Its not just a sword, its a key too. Its what lets me open and close the temple at will. It also only works for me. Bad ass, amiright?" Tucker boasts.

"Sounds like the keyblade." Sora mutters.

"The what? I guess its kinda like that." Tucker admits. "'Keyblade' sounds pretty sweet."

"It kinda looks strange, but they're all diffrent." Sora says.

"Wait? There are more of these things lieing around?" Tucker asks.

"Well, they arn't lieing around. But there are more." Sora says. "I have one of my own." Sora then summons the Kingdom key for all to see. "It also does all the things yours can do."

"Nice. Doesn't look as cool as mine, looks like an actual key." Tucker says. "Anyway, how did you all find me?"

"We got that radio call you sent." Sarge says.

"The distress signal? And they sent you assholes? That was to help me. I wanted less distress not more distress!" Tucker complains.

"Actually, we kinda ignored that call at first." Grif admits.

"That makes sense."

"Then Donut showed up and told us you were in trouble." Grif continues.

"Ohohoh, I get it. So me making an emergency radio call, not a big deal, Donut telling you some dumb homo story, red alert!" Tucker complains.

"Well at least they came in the end, right?" Sora tries to assure.

"I guess. So wheres everyone else?" Tucker asks.

"What do you mean?" Caboose asks.

"The rest of the people who are gonna help me fight these fuckers off." Tucker explains. A moment of silence passes. "You didn't bring any other soldiers did you?"

"Oh, um, that depends. By other soldiers do you mean people other than us?" Caboose asks.

"Yes, I do." Tucker deadpans.

"Then, no." Caboose confirms.

"Whats goin on here?" Sarge asks.

"Its kinda hard to explain. They think theres some kinda artifact here. Some massive weapon built a long time ago." Tucker explains.

"An old weapon... like a spear." Caboose says

"No, not a spear. Like some kinda super energy, electric thing."

"An electric spear." Caboose deduces.

"Its not a spear dumbass."

"Hm, think I've heard about these. They found some back during the war." Sarge says.

"Yeah, well all the aliens are into them and so are all the humans now. So me and Junior have to go around sometimes and help... negotiate stuff. You know, smooth talk." Tucker explains.

"Why you?" Grif asks.

"We're like ambassadors here or something. Humans and aliens seem more comfortable with us since we're kinda... inbetween."

"Uh what?" Sora asks.

"His son is an alien." Grif briefly explains.

"In between humans and aliens huh? You mean in between two human and alien... ladys?" Caboose asks.

"Come on dude, seriously? Your not gonna get me to say it with that lame ass joke. I'm not that easy." Tucker says before another moment of silence passes. "Okay, maybe I am that easy, bow chicka wow wow. See, now thats a set up."

"Should we get back on topic?" Sora asks.

"Yeah, are you part of the group that CT told us about?" Sarge asks.

"That asshole? Hes a fucking liar. He and his team killed the guys originaly sent to dig this thing up, then they tried to kill me." Tucker explains.

"Oh no, well I hope you stopped them." Caboose says.

"I locked myself in this temple. I figured it would keep me safe and keep them away from the relic."

"So who are they?" Grif asks.

"I don't have any idea, dude. They're probably trying to steal the artifact then sell it to the highest bidder." Tucker says

"Oh, they're like evil ebay." Caboose says.

"Your an idiot. Look guys, thanks for the fucked up rescue mission and all that, but wheres Church?" Tucker asks.

"Oh uh, hes dead." Caboose explains.

"Yeah, Church has been dead for years, that never stopped him before."

"Oh yeah, we also found out that hes not a ghost and that hes an AI program like Shelia." Caboose explains.

"...Yeah I knew that." Tucker says.

"You did?" Grif asks.

"Yeah, you guys didn't. Fu- pay fuckin attention what the fuck you guys paying attention too?" Tucker asks.

"Uh... I had my suspicions." Grif mutters.

"Of coarse, I just didn't want to tell anybody." Sarge explains.

"I just got here." Sora says.

"I still want to know what Tucker is going to do between the two ladies." Caboose says.

"Look guys, I need your help. We need to either chase these guys off, or destroy the facility. Or, pick up some chicks. Old habbits die hard." Tucker explains.

"But why destroy it?" Sarge asks.

"Orders. We can't let it fall into anyone elses hands. Plus breaking stuff is fucking awsome." Tucker says.

"Your right about that." Sora agrees.

"This thing is that powerful?" Grif questions.

"Hell yeah, first they built these rings that are a huge weapon, then we found this super powerful cube shaped weapon, and I guess this is the pyramid version." Tucker says.

"That ancient race sure built a lot of weapons." Grif says.

"I know."

"I mean, did they really have to spend all their time building stuff to destroy the universe? Like, how about the galaxys biggest movie theater, or like some kinda super adavnced water park?All work and no play guys, seriously."

"No play. Tell me about it." Tucker says.

Meanwhile, a loud bang is heard as if something outside of the temple was being rammed into it.

"What the hell are they doing out there?" Grif asks.

"They've been trying to blast their way in here ever since I locked it down, though they aren't havin much luck ARE YOU FUCKIN ASSHOLES!" Tucker yells to them. "This stuff looks like rock but its way tougher than that."

"Whats tougher than rock?" Grif asks.

"Paper." Caboose says

"How the fuck should I know? super rock?" Tucker suggests. "What am I? Some kinda geographist?"

"They have some kinda big machine out there." Sarge says.

"Yeah, they just got that thing. I think they think that they're gonna yank this door off with it. Not fucking happening." Tucker replies.

"They wanna get their hands on that weapon." Sarge asks.

"Yeah, and we can't let them turn it on, no matter what happens." Tucker warns.

"Why don't we just turn it on and use it against them?" Sarge suggests.

"Fuck what? We don't know how it works we could turn it on and it makes us all sterile." Tucker explains.

"Would it do that?" Grif asks.

"Well, the last weapon we found was designed to wipe out all organic life in a huge radius." Tucker says, to which Grif only whistles while Sora just goes eyes wide open.

"Why would someone make something like that?" He asks no one.

"Fucking, I dunno. For all I know they just do it for fun." Tucker says. "Point is, don't touch anything. You hit the wrong button or flip the wrong switch, we'll all be dead before you can say- wheres Caboose?"

"I don't think thats how that expression goes." Sarge says.

"No, I mean where the fuck is Caboose?" Tucker asks.

"Oh, yeah. He does have a habbit of wandering off, hes been trying to rig equipment to do something." Sarge tells him. "We don't really know what. That boys not quite right ya know?"

"What the- I just said not to touch anything and you guys let him walk away to find equipment?" Tucker questions ."What the hell is wrong with you? Man I swear, you guys have always been idiots but this takes the cake."

"Hes on your team, asshole." Grif reminds him.

"Oh right." Tucker says. "Hey, uh, so if you guys aren't doing anything you wanna go help me find Caboose?"

"Sure." Sora says in a tone like the previous conversation never happened.

"Lets go." Sarge says as everyone heads in.

"So embarrassing for you." Grif taunts.

"Just go find the guy." Tucker demands.

"So sad..." Grif continues.

"I fucked your sister." Tucker taunts. As they are looking for Caboose everyone hears someones voice. It sounded like it was on a speaker phone so it was probably outside.

"Just open the temple and leave! We'll take what we want and no one has to get hurt!" It says.

"Shut up idiot!" Tucker yells. "I shoud've stabbed that fucking speaker while I was out there."

"Caboose!" Grif calls.

"Caboose, where are you!" Tucker yells.

"Caboose!" Sora calls.

"Hey blue! Hope your not dead. Now that theres two of ya, we can finally have a fair fight! Come on out here so we can kill ya!" Sarge exclaims. Sora then throws Sarge a questioning look which he catchs. "Right, not the time." He grumbles in response.

"Hey guys, shut up. Do you here that." Tucker gets everyones attention. Everyone listens closely and Cabooses voice can be heard.

"Wa-would you be quiet!" Caboose demands to someone. "See your gonna get me in trouble."

"Trouble? Fuck that." A new voice says. It is unrecognizable to Sora and sounds pretty robotic.

"Whos he talking to? Aw crap, did someone break into the temple?" Tucker whispers. The four then hear a glass shatter.

"Ah, n- okay see, you broke that. That was your fault." Caboose tells the new arrival.

"That? That was already broken." The new voice says. Tucker then brings out his energy sword while making a whooshing noise and Sora summons his keyblade.

"Alright, lets charge in there and take these assholes out. On my mark-" Tucker says. "-that means when I say go."

"That voice sounds familiar." Grif says.

"Yeah, I find it annoying and grating for some reason." Sarge adds.

"Okay, just stop moving around, hold still." Caboose tells the mystery person.

"I am holding still, your the one thats moving!" The person yells.

"Yeah that sounds like-" Tucker starts off.

"Get your hands off me! Fuckin douch!" He yells.

"Sorry Church." Caboose apologizes.

"Church!" Everyone exclaims before running into Cabooses area. Inside the find Caboose with a floating ball with one large blue eye in the center. Everyone stares.

"I can explain." Caboose says.

"Who the fuck are these guys?" Church asks.

"Church... your telling me thats Church." Tucker says.

"Well, not exactly, see um, technically this thing um, is just a memory of Church. His name is Epsilon

"Epsiwhatsiwha?" Tucker questions.

"Me, dipshit!" Church yells.

"Uh yeah see, hes a resident memory of the guy Church was based on, so hes kinda like, remembering himself." Caboose explains.

"Why does everything have to be complicated." Sora sighs to himself.

"Simmons can explain, yknow, much beter than I can." Caboose continues.

"Sounds like I have another reason to be glad Simmons isn't here." Grif says.

"Wait, I thought he was Simmons." Church says refering to Sarge.

"Thats Sarge. Sa-a-arge." Caboose explains.

"Im confused, not deaf you idiot." Chruch chastises. "And whos the yellow one?"

"Im not yellow, im orange." Grif yells.

"Yeah, then how'd you know who I was talking about?" Church asks.

"How come he remembers us, but not who we are?" Tucker asks.

"Why does everyone think I'm yellow? Seriously!" Grif rants to himself. "Didn't anybody have a box of crayons as a kid!"

"Oh it will come back to him. See, I've been telling him stories about all of us." Caboose then looks to Tucker. "We'll most of us."

"Is that what you've been trying to do all this time?" Sarge asks. "Rebuild your buddy."

"Yes. No. Maybe. Which would make you less mad?" Caboose asks.

"Oh, Caboose. We're not mad that you were trying to help someone." Sora assures him.

"So the only stuff he knows about us is what you've told him." Tucker states. "Thats scary on a lot of levels dude."

"Why?" Church asks.

"Hohoh, why? Okay, quick quiz. Who am I?" Tucker asks.

"Your Captain Flowers, right? Your dead. I've been meaning to ask you about that part. Is he like a zombie?" Church asks.

"Uh-hu. And who is he?" Tucker points to Grif.

"He's Griff. Which is spelt with two fs." Church answers.

"God damn it! Now thats another thing!" Grif goes on.

"Opps, I kinda thought it was two fs, too." Sora admits, to which Grif only groans.

"Caboose was very specific about that second f." Church reveals.

"Yeah, and what about the red guy?" Tucker asks.

"Well, if hes not Simmons then I guess hes Sarge. And that would make him the gruff and regimented leader of the red team." Church tells them.

"Good job, Epsilon." Sora cheers.

"Just give him one more second." Tucker assures.

"That would also make him the captain of their pirate ship." Church continues.

"There it is." Tucker says.

"I am a good story teller." Caboose says to himself.

"And the kid there is Sora. The guy from the desert who is magic." Church goes on.

"Thats even more fucked up." Tucker says. "How are you gonna tell storys anyway, you can't even read."

"I can read." Caboose defends.

"Caboose is the only guy I know who got an illustrated field manual." Tucker reveals."Hes a moron."

"Well it helps when storys have pictures." Caboose says, while Sora silently nods.

"For the first two months I worked with him, he thought you over your head, while they shot arrows at the enemy."

"That diagram could have been a lot more specific."

"Heh, your lucky. As a recruit, Grif didn't even know what a grenade was!" Sarge says. "I called them a pinapple, and he tried to swallow it."

"Yeah? Well its still tasted better than those MREs you served us." Grif shoots back.

"Grif! Show some respect! Do you know how many men died to develop those meals?" Sarge asks.

"I can tell you exactly how many. Everybody who ever tasted one." Grif tells him.

"I think we might be getting a little of topic here." Sora says, though he is ignored.

"At least he doesn't kill everyone who suits up for your team." Tucker says.

"Oh, yeah. I don't think I really did that." Caboose tells him.

"Then who did?"

"Okay stick with me on this one. What if Church traveled back in time using Wyomings special ability power-"

"God, shut up. Thats fucking retarded." Tucker interrupts.

"What? Whos Wyoming?" Sora asks.

"Ugh. You guys are idiots." Grif ignores Sora.

"What! What about you guys!?" Caboose asks.

"Whos the real idiot? The idiot, or the idiot who fights it?" Sarge asks.

"Huh, im not following-"

"What dude? In either scenario, your still an idiot." Tucker tells him.

"Heh, I would expect you to say something like that." Sarge says.

"Wait, I think hes right." Grif says.

"Shut up Grif. I always thought your armour was yellow too." Sarge insults him. "Matchs your personality."

"Hey! You shouldn't be mean to people who work for you, and just wanna be their friend!" Caboose yells.

"Oh... guys I think we've forgotten about the-" Sora goes on.

"No one tries to do that but you." Tucker reminds him.

"I think your all a bunch of idiots." Sarge says. Everyone argues while Sora attempts to get everyone back to the task at hand until-

"Everyone stop!" Church yells. Everyone but Caboose stops until he eventually simiars down. "Alright listen guys, I may not remember everything right now. But it will come back to me, okay? I can feel it. But I do know this, if we don't work together to destroy this weapon, those guys outside are gonna kill a lot of people. And we can't let that happen." Church begins moving away from Caboose as Sora begins to smile at his speech. "So just for a moment, lets set aside our diffrences, and get to work solving this problem, together. Being in charge is a tough task, but I'm a born leader. So if you follow me, I know I can get us through this. Are you with me?"

"Im with you." Sora announces.

"Where are you going?" Grif asks.

"Uh, yeah I don't seem have full control over my body yet, but that doesn't invalidate anything I said- I'm still the leader. Fuck, okay! I'll be right back. No one take leader position while I'm away!"

"Okay bye." Caboose says.

"Yeah, see ya later Winston Churchill." Sarge says.

"Why can't something nice happen here?" Sora sighs.

As the blues headed after Church, the reds and Sora stay behind to chat.

"I knew it. This was a trap!" Sarge exclaims.

"Whats a trap?" Grif asks.

"Don't you see Grif? The blues have an advantage over us!" Sarge explains.

"What, you mean they have a decent leader?" Grif asks.

"No! I mean they have three people and we only have two!" Sarge continues.

"Hey Sora, your now an honoary member of red team." Grif tells Sora. "There problem solved."

"Grif you don't have the athority to do that!" Sarge exclaims. "Sora you are now an official memeber of red team!" Sarge exclaims.

"Uh, thanks? But I don't think you need to worry about the blues." Sora explains.

"Oh we don't need to worry about them alright. We still have a chance to defeat them!" Sarge exclaims.

"No. I don't think the blues are intrested in fighting us." Sora explains.

"Dude, I have tried to explain that to him for awhile now. Not gonna work." Grif interjects.

"Don't tell me they have you fooled my boy! Those dirty blues only know how to lie, cheat, and steal!" Sarge continues.

"Besides, don't we have someone else we need to stop?" Sora reminds them. "CT and how hes gonna steal some weapon?"

"Dang nabbit, your right!" Sarge growls. "I guess we can have another temporary truce. Then we can go back to the good ol days of trying to kill each other." Just then another large bang rings out across the temple. "Peter, Paul and Ringo! What the heck was that!"

"That did not sound good!" Grif deadpans. Just then the blues come back in.

"Did you guys hear that?" Tucker asks.

"Hear what? Of coarse we heard that idiot!" Grif exclaims.

"Aw great, I think they broke down the door." Tucker says. At this, Sora summons his keyblade, ready for a fight. Just then Church comes in.

"What! Who would do that- thing that you just said to the other thing?" He questions.

"Whats Wrong with him?" Grif asks.

"He disabled his memory of something dumb while trying to unlock this massive laser eye hes got. I dunno." Tucker explains.

"Laser eye? That sounds cool." Sora says.

"Whos got a laser eye?" Church asks.

"You do." Caboose answers.

"I do!" Church exclaims.

"YES." Tucker stresses.

"Thats awesome man, I feel great about... whatever it is we're talking about." Church says.

"Should we be helping him?" Sora asks.

"Yeah, Caboose, shouldn't you be killing him or something?" Tucker asks, to which Caboose responds by going up to Church and hitting him then backing away.

"Ow!" Church exclaims.

"Tucker did it!" Caboose exclaims.

"No he didn't jackass, you did." Church says.

"So you remember that?" Tucker asks.

"Why wouldn't I remember that?" Church asks.

"You don't remember why you wouldn't remeber? Then I guess you fixed, fuck it." Tucker says

"Hitting techy things does fix them... all the time, then." Sora thinks to himself.

"You guys never make any god damn sense." Chruch complains.

"Yeah, thats our problem." Tucker says.

"Over here!" Everyone hears CT yell. "Split up. You two, guard the entrance, don't let them out."

"Uh, I think we have more pressing issues at the moment fellas." Sarge reminds everyone.

"Hes right. Everyone ready." Sora silently calls out.

"I thought you said they couldn't bust through the door!?" Grif says.

"When did you guys start listening to me?" Tucker laughs.

"Everybody grab some cover." Sarge orders before everyone does just that. Just as everyone is hidden, an alien comes in and then another one.

"Shit, theres two of them!" Grif says.

"Grif, don't panic. You've been trained for this!" Sarge tells him.

"THIS? I'VE BEEN TRAINED FOR THIS! BEING STUCK IN AN ANCIENT TEMPLE, SURROUNDED BY MYSTIC TECHNOLOGY, WHILE BEING HUNTED BY ALIENS FROM ANOTHER PLANET!" Grif silently yells. "THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN TRAINED FOR!"

"Okay, maybe not this specifically, but elements of this which when combined are liberally interpreted, bear a close resembalance to this." Sarge says.

"NOT EVEN CLOSE!" Grif exclaims.

"Don't worry, Grif. We'll make it though this." Ssora assures him.

"I feel safer already. Why was I worryed." Grif says sarcastically.

"Ah, just shut up and fight." Sarge orders "Today is a good day for you to die!" Grif and Sarge then leave their cover to shoot the aliens. They successfully kill one on the first barrage, causeing the other to retaliate by throwing a grenade, which does not do much to our heros.

"Look out." Grif yells as Tucker activates his energy sword.

"I just need them to get a little closer." Tucker whispers. Sora is about to hit it with a firaga but is distracted by doing so when he suddenly spies a floating crate.

"Hey Church, are you doing that?" Caboose asks.

"Doing what?" Church asks before looking at the floating crate and realizing he is doing it. "Oh cool! Am I! Oh look I am! Oh look, thats awesome!"

"When did you get telekinesis?" Tucker asks.

"You have teleportesis?" Caboose asks. "Can you hear what I'm thinking now?"

"Caboose. Telekinesis is moving objects with your mind, not reading minds." Sora tells him.

"My guess would be nothing." Tucker guesses anyway.

"Oh my god TUCKER HAS IT TOO!" Caboose exclaims. Sora just smiles at the idiot's silliness.

"Look at this! This is so kickass! I wonder what other powers I have! Man I could be the most powerful being in the universe! I'm like a super hero!" Church says before floating away.

"Where are you going?" Tucker chuckles.

"Opps, uh I seem to have lost control of my body again." Church calls to him.

"Yeah, some super hero." Tucker sighs. "You fuckin dick."

"With some time, I'm sure he'll get used to that body and those powers." Sora assures him.

"Yeah, thats what I'm afraid of. Church was always a narcissist, but with fricken super powers he'll take it to the next level." Tucker tells him.

"Okay then." Sora says, shifting his attention back to the battle since he doesn't know how to respond to that.

The second alien then returns fire with a chain gun that he probably got from outside.

"Grif, listen. We may not both make it out of this." Sarge tells Grif.

"What?" Grif responds.

"If you die, I think I'm prepared to live with that. I've practiced it a lot. But theres also a chance that you might survive and I won't." Sarge continues.

"There'd be a beter chance if you help me shoot!" Grif exclaims.

"In case I don't make it, I can't help but think about all the future mistakes you're gonna make, that I'm not gonna be there to scream at you about." Sarge continues.

"Oh stop, I'm getting all teary eyed." Grif sarcastically replies.

"I just wanna let you know that at my bunk back at the base, theres a recorder deck. I've prerecorded about fifty-seven hours of rants that should be applicable in a variaty of situations." Sarge tells him. "Whenever you feel good about yourself, I want you to play one, and always remember: someone hates you." The alien continues firing until Church floats out towards it. It then ceases fire to look up at him, and is then blasted with a fire ball out of nowhere. The soldiers look to see Sora is the one who fired it.

"Woah! How did you do that?" Sarge asks.

"Uh, the keyblade lets me do things like that." Sora explains.

"Cool! Let me try." Tucker says before repeatedly trying to perform firaga with his energy sword. 'Maybe it isn't a keyblade that I'm familiar with. It could be some variation exclusive to this world.' Sora thinks. "Fuck. Okay, how did you do that?" Tucker asks.

"You look like your doing it right." Sora tells him. "Maybe yours can't do things like that in excange for looking cooler."

"Aw. Thats bullshit. But then again, mine is more likely to attract the chicks than yours. No offense." Tucker says.

"Hey how come he stopped firing when he saw me?" Church asks.

"I've seen this before, the aliens worship this ancient technology. That one probably though Church was some sort of god." Tucker explains.

"Wow! Seriously? Thats pretty fuckin cool!" Church exclaims.

Caboose gasps "Maybe thats why your name is Church!"

"The shots came from down here!" Someone yells. At that, Church retreats into another room behind the five.

"Right! Form up men!" CT is heard yelling.

"Woah! Incoming!" Sarge says.

"Good luck guys!" Church calls. CT and his men then come in and hold up our heros.

"Freeze! Lower your weapons!" CT exclaims. Everyone does so except for Sora who desumoned it after killing the second alien. CT then looks to Tucker. "You... do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me! I should kill you right here!" Sora, stands ready to surprise attack them. Church then come out of the room.

"Somebodys getting killed? I wanna watch." He says.

"You activated it?" CT asks.

"Activated what?" Church asks.

"Secure the relic! Don't let it get away!" CT orders. One of the soldiers then takes out a pistol and charges it. It illuminates a green colour as it charges.

"Oh, cool pistol, greens my favorite colour." Church says before being shot and deactivated.

"Church!" Sora exclaims.

"Yes! Great shot Jones!" CT congradulates, while Sora is checking on Church. Unbenounced to both sides, the aliens look very upset at the action.

"Thanks! But its actually pronounced jo-annis, sir!" Jo-annis says before Smith knocks him down and starts beating on him.

"What the? Smith! What are you doing!" CT exclaims before the other aliens turn on their human allies.

"Whats happening!" Sarge exclaims.

"I think we have some new friends." Sora smiles while watching the chaos. while hes not watching, CT takes Church from Sora and runs of.

"Outta the way!" He exclaims as he exits.

"So much for being a team." Sora scoffs as he watchs CT retreat.

"Lets go!" Tucker orders.

"Wait, we need to grab Church." Caboose says.

"That guy in brown armour grabbed him." Grif says. The group exit the temple to find CT getting away in a warthog followed by two of his men on a mongoose. "There he goes! Everybody in the jeep!" It is then everyone notices it is upside down.

"We gotta get that thing turned over!" Sarge exclaims.

"I'll do it!" Caboose says before doing it.

"Woah!" Sora wows at his strength. 'I wonder how strong he is compared to Hercules.' he wonders.

"Wow! You are strong!" Sarge complaments before hoping in.

"Is this thing even going to start?" Grif questions before getting in.

"Hopefully. Come on, chuppababy." Sarge says before the jeep starts. Meanwhile, Sora and Tucker head in a diffrent direction.

"Sora! Tucker! Where are you going?" Caboose asks on the jeep.

"Theres no room for me! I'll be right back!" Tucker yells.

"What are you doing?" Sora asks him.

"Getting a ride of my own." Tucker smiles under his helmet. Then the two come across some shadowy creature. "What the hell is that thing? It doesn't look like a sand flea." Tucker exclaims.

"Heartless!" Sora exclaims before summoning his keyblade.

"What!" Tucker questions.

"They're attracted to the darkness in people hearts. They're really dangerous." Sora explains.

"Great. First asshole mercenarys, then CTs goons, and now shadow demons." Tucker exclaims before taking out his energy sword. The one is then joined by reinforcments, luckily they are only little shadow heartless. The two chrage them with Sora sticking to striking them with the keyblade rather than using magic. They really weren't worth it. In the mist of his fight he also spies Tucker doing well in his. "Swish!" He says, taking out a heartless. "Swish!" He gets a triple kill. "Stab!" He stabs one in a bad ass looking way and the fights over as quick as it started.

"Good fighting!" Sora complements.

"Thanks, but we don't have time to talk right now. Gotta save Church!" Tucker says before continuing to run.

"Right." Sora says before following him. The two then approach some alien look vehicle that appeared to only ride on one massive wheel. "Woah!"

"Pretty cool right! The aliens gave it to me as a gift." Tucker says before hopping on. "Theres no second seat, so just hold on." Tucker says, to which Sora jumps and holds onto on of the sides.

"Do you have a plan?" Sora asks as Tucker moves the vehicle to watch the battle. He sees The reds and Caboose attempt to fire on CT, but they miss and their jeep stops for some reason. The mongoose then has them dead to rights until Tucker calls out.

"Hey assholes!" He yells. "Yaaaaaaaaa!" He screams as he jumps off the ridge, aiming to colide with the enemy but missing and landing in a small temple structure. "Fuck." Is all he can say.

"Cannons charged." Caboose announces.

"Okay then fuck it shoot em." Sarge orders. Caboose does just that and sucessfully hits the target.

"Uh, Sarge. What are those?" Grif asks, point towards more shadowy creature appearing out of nowhere.

Tucker and Sora then emerge from their hole.

"Hey guys, sorry about that." Tucker says. He then notices the heartless. "God damn it, where do these things keep coming from?"

"You know these things? Cause they don't look like sand fleas." Sarge says.

"Sora says these things are basically demons and that we should kill cause they're dangerous." Tucker explains.

"How do you know about these things?" Grif asks.

"Uh, the heartless? Not important. What we need to do is get rid of them quickly." Sora explains.

"No can do. We need to get CT first. But that wont stop us from running over a few on the way." Sarge says.

"Yah, those aliens are keeping him at bay for the time being. We should help them." Tucker says before heading off after them with Sora. The reds and Caboose follow him, crushing heartless with their vehicles as they go, until they eventually cut him off after the aliens are done stalling him.

"There he is!" Caboose exclaims.

"You guys follow him, we'll cut him off." Tucker says before he drives in a different direction.

"We can't lose Church!" Caboose exclaims.

"We won't!" Tucker calls to him.

"You always say that but we always do!" Caboose exclaims. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sora found the twos exchange kind of cute. As the reds and Caboose chase CT, Sora and Tucker watch from their vehicle from aways away, little by little getting ahead of CT.

"Only one shot at this." Tucker says to himself.

"Hitting him head on won't do anything!" Sora exclaims to Tucker but it is too late. Tucker has already made a big jump, headed in CTs path. Just as it hits the ground, Tucker jumps out, activates his energy sword, and stands in front of CTs oncoming jeep. The reds fire again and miss, while their jeep stalls again. Sora the watches the epic display unfold.

"Gotta time this... now!" Tucker side steps and slashes CTs jeep causing it to stop and, after a few seconds, explode.

"Whoa!" both Grif and Sora exclaim. "Tucker look! Hes still alive!" Grif warns as Caboose and Sora head towards the wreaked jeep in hopes of finding Church.

"I'll bet CT, you guys find Church." Tucker calls to them.

"Grif, help me form a small offensive line. Theres still a few more of those heartless things." Sarge orders him.

"Why? They don't seem to be a problem." Grif complains.

"Why don't you go up to one and find out. Maybe give it a big hug." Sarge suggests.

"Alright, fine." Grif complains as he gets out of the jeep and readys his battle rifle.

Meanwhile, Sora and Caboose reach the wreakage.

"Church!" Sora calls out as he looks about.

"Church! Where are you!" Caboose yells.

"Uhhh." They hear a voice. They see Church lying on the ground. "What the? What happened. I remember green..." He goes on.

"One of CTs men shot you and he tried to get away with you. But don't worry, your safe now." Sora assures.

"Yeah... Where is this CT?" He asks.

"Tucker is going after him." Caboose exclaims.

"Right... uh we should help Tucker." Church suggests.

"Yeah, lets go." Sora says before the three head off. Sora saw Tucker go up some ramp to get to the top of a temple, so he leads the others to it. As they reach it Church then floats in a different direction. "Church, Tucker is this way." Sora tells him.

"Go that way then. I have an idea." Church says as he continues on.

"You guys sure like not telling each other your plans." Sora says to Caboose as they run up the ramp.

"Yeah... you get used to it." Caboose says. The two then arrive to see CT holding Tucker at gun point. Sora gets in his combat ready stance while Caboose just stands like Caboose. Luckily, CT hadn't noticed them yet.

"Sorry, you'll never know." CT says, like he and Tucker were talking earlier. At that moment Church then floats up beside Tucker.

"Hey whats up." Church greets.

"What in the hell is that thing?!" CT exclaims. At this Church's eye starts to glow red. "Oh... son of a-" CT never finishes as he is blasted by Church's laser.

"I am not a thing! My name is Leonard Church and you will fear my laser face!" Church exclaims.

"Ohhhoho, hell yeah! You just got fucked up!" Tucker exclaims.

"Woah! That was really awesome." Caboose says.

"You don't need to tell me." Sora agrees.

"Church how did you do that?" Tucker asks as the reds show up, finished with their heartless killing spree.

"I don't really know, I just got really mad and it just kinda, y'know, happened." Church explains.

"Can you do it again? Like, to the yellow guy or something?" Tucker asks.

"I guess... I'm not really sure." Church replies.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Sarge states.

"For once Sarge, you and I agree." Grif says.

"Relax guys. I'm sure he won't use it on you." Sora assures them.

"That reminds me! We need to get you the red army manual. To learn all the evils of the blue scum and how to stop em!" Sarge exclaims.

"That can come latter. Lets get back into the temple and close it for good." Tucker says.

"Um guys." Caboose says, looking down at the temple, seeing aliens gathering around it. "I think we might have a problem with that."

Everyone else comes to see what he's talking about.

"Oh..." Is all Sora can says.

"Well, that don't look to good." Sarge says.


	2. Red and Blue part 2

(A few hours later)

Grif is just standing, looking outwards into the desert until Tucker and Sora arrive.

"Uh, Grif. Why are you just standing out here?" Sora asks.

"Well, Sarge told me to bury all the body's from our battle." Grif explains.

"Thats a lot of graves. A lot of holes to fill, bow chicka wow wow." Tucker jumps in. Sora shoots him a questioning look.

"And now I can't find them because the bodys were piled here by these stone pillars and then the wind came and blew sand over the damn things." Grif continues.

"Then I guess they're already buried. Good job dude." Tucker congratulates.

"I like the way you think." Grif comments.

"Grif! What the hell are you doing up here?" Sarge yells as he comes up to them. "I thought I told you to bury those... bodys."

"He did! He buried the shit outta them, look!" Tucker exclaims.

"What the? I only gave that order 5 minutes ago. How'd you do it so fast? Did you help him?" Sarge asks Sora.

"No, I didn't. Tucker and I were just talking about our swords/ keyblades." Sora explains.

"And did you help him?" Sarge asks.

"Weren't you paying attention. And besides, even if Sora wasn't here, we've been fighting for like eight years, haven't you learned anything about me yet?" Tucker explains. "I'm a lover, not a digger."

"Yeah, maybe he woulda helped me if some of the body's were dead laddies." Grif says. Everyone looks at him with a look of disgust, though only Sora's is visable. "And I realize that sounded a lot creepier than what I intended."

"Well, does someone wanna say a few words." Sarge asks.

"Words?" Grif questions.

"Yes, these men were soldiers. Even if they were enemy soldiers, they still deserve a proper eulogy." Sarge explains.

"That actually sounds very honourable, Sarge." Sora says.

"Great, another kiss ass." Grif mutters to Tucker.

"I actually like this kid better than Simmons." Tucker tells Grif. Tucker then turns his attention back to Sarge, who is stareing at him. "Don't look at me, I'm a lover not a talker." Tucker then turns to Grif. "Hey dude, you wanna make another sex with dead people joke?"

"No, I think I hit my quota." Grif says.

"Sora?" Sarge asks.

"I don't think so. Can't come up with anything." Sora replies.

"What about your buddy mister cult leader?" Sarge asks Tucker, referring to Church. Speak of the devil, Church came floating out towards the group with the surviving aliens and Caboose in tow.

"Its not his fault, those aliens just worship this ancient technology and the people who made it. Huh, whats a brother gonna do?" Tucker explains.

"Who in sam hill worships technology?" Sarge questions.

"Are they from the internet?" Grif asks.

"Caboose, what are you doing, get outta there!" Tucker orders. Caboose leaves the mob and meets up with the four.

"Its not fair! Hya- I worshipped Church, way before it was cool to worship him." Caboose explains.

"Hey, I already told you. Thats still not cool. That will never be cool." Grif tells him. Then Church shows up.

"Oh, hey there guys. Hows life among all the non-deities? Pretty lame I bet. Pretty sure none of you have been worshipped all day long. Weak!" Church exclaims.

"You were right about him." Sora whispers to Tucker before turning back to Church. "Church, don't you think your letting all this praise get to your head?"

"Oh, yeah of coarse. I love being worshipped!" Church says.

"Thats not what I mean't." Sora says.

"Then I don't care." Church says.

"Hey, your circular holiness!" Sarge calls. "How about delivering the eulogy. We're burying most of these guys cause of you anyway."

"Me? I only lasered one guy." Church states.

"Which was awesome." Caboose praises.

"I know right." Church agrees.

"So cool. The laser came out of your face."

"Have you been able to figure out how you did that yet?" Tucker asks.

"No, I think its just because I got really mad." Church explains. "Hey, say something to make me angry. See if it happens again."

"Your ugly and nobody likes you." Tucker says.

"Your annoying and your team sucks." Grif adds. "Come on Sora, join in."

"Uh, I don't think I can. I'm not used to being negative." Sora explains.

"Oh. Well when you spend time with us, you'll learn." Grif assures.

"Your round and you can't wear pants." Caboose adds.

"Save for Sora, you guys came up with all that really quickly." Church says.

"Eh, it pays to be prepared. Did it work? Are you pissed?" Tucker asks.

"No, I think I'm actually kinda depressed right now. Caboose is right, I can't wear pants." Church says.

"Well I only said it because everyone was thinking it." Caboose defends.

"Maybe mad makes a red laser and sad makes a blue laser?" Sora proposes.

"Well, I hope we don't find out what makes a brown laser." Caboose says. Sora tries his damn hardest to not laugh at Cabooses quip but everyone can plainly see he is trying.

"You idiots shut up." Sarge says before any one can question Sora. "Hey Globey, you makin a speech or ain't ya."

"Hey sure no problem. I did a sermon just the other day that the aliens loved." Church says before floating up to the others.

"Sermon? You just read them the set up guide to out Inkjet printer." Tucker says.

"Yeah, and they eat that gadget stuff up. You gotta know your audience buddy." Church defends as everyone heads down to stand beside the aliens and Caboose.

"How is it possible that ever since Caboose revived you, you can't remember anything except how to be a jackass." Grif asks.

"Some things are hardwired." Tucker mutters.

Church then starts his speech. "Attention true believers. And... other people. We are here today to pay our final, and first, respects, to the dearly departed. But first, I'd like you to join me in a song, in honour of unme. Hm, I AM THE BEST!"

"Skip it." Grif, Tucker, Sarge and Sora all say.

"Fine." Church grumbles. "Okay, uh, in the begining there was darkness, and uh out of the darkness came a voice. And it said... And it said... Uh... uh... out of the darkness came... Out of the darkness..." Sora notices Church is distracted by something. He looks to the direction Church is looking, only to find nothing.

"Is his play back skipping?" Grif asks.

"I dunno." Tucker answers.

"Maybe he needs a reboot." Sarge suggests. "Good thing I wore my boots. I'll reboot him right in the keister. Heh heh heh."

"Maybe he's regaining some of his memories?" Sora suggests.

"Out of the darkness came... someone. I'll be right back." Church floats towards whatever he was looking at.

"Maybe your right Sora." Tucker says. The aliens then begin blarging angrily. "Uh oh, looks like the natives are getting restless. Caboose get up there and stall em, I'll figure out whats going on."

Caboose gets up where Church was at. "Yes, and out of the darkness came someone, and that someone was me! Yes, and I said, funerals are sad, and we should have a birthday party instead, yes! Yes, let there be cake! Im, hallelujah, gesundheit." After Caboose was done talking, the aliens looked to be talking amongst themselves. The four use this to slip away to meet up with Tucker and Church.

"We'll did you see?" Church asks Tucker as they arrive.

"Whats he talking about?" Sarge asks.

"I think Sora's right. He's having another memory flash." Tucker explains.

"A what?"

"Random that keep coming back to him. He's been getting them more and more lately and I don't think he has any control over them." Tucker explains. "He gets all emo too, its annoying. Like having a chick around, but without all the fun parts of having a chick around. Like bonin'!"

"You should take out his memory unit and blow on it. That'll fix it." Sarge suggest. Then, Caboose arrives.

"Is he having more memories?" Caboose asks.

"Yep." Tucker answers.

"Did he remember me this time?"

"Nope."

"I saw a canyon, and uh,a waterfall." Church explains. "And there was some kinda dark figure there."

"Was the dark figure me?" Caboose asks.

"Caboose, we will let you know if you come up, I promise." Tucker says. "A waterfall, huh? Thats the second time you've talked about that."

"Yeah, but where could that be?" Church asks.

"Uh, that sounds like our new bases." Grif says as Sarge leaves the group.

"It does? It does!" Caboose exclaims.

"What? Caboose, why didn't you mention that the first time?" Tucker questions.

"Um, I didn't remember it?" Caboose suggests.

"You didn't remember a waterfall? Dude, thats like not remembering your first girlfriend turned out to have a dick. Right Grif?"

"Sometimes I'm sorry I even told you that story." Grif says.

"You guys are weird." Sora says. He then turns to Church. "Church, if theres anything I can do to help, let me know."

"Yeah its just that... I feel like I need to see her." Church mutters. Sora could here it in his voice. The dark figure was the most important person in his life and she forgot her, like Sora did with Kairi in castle oblivion (but he doesn't remember that). Sora then finds himself empathizing with Church. They are both searching for the one most important to them. "I'll help you find her Church. I promise." Sora says.

Grif leaves to go join Sarge as Tucker starts yelling at Caboose.

"Its a waterfall! It's literally impossible to forget! Like girlfriend dick!" Tucker exclaims. Eventually Sarge and Grif come back.

"Hey dude, can we borrow you for a sec?" Grif asks.

"Huh? Sure." Church replies before he goes with them.

"Oh shit! I almost forgot, we should check up on those aliens!" Tucker exclaims. "Sora! Caboose! come with!"The three head towards where the aliens were last and low and behold, they're still there.

"Huh, thats weird. I thought they would have at least moved some where else." Sora says.

"Guess not." Tucker says. As the group gets closer, they see the four aliens are actually in the process of ripping apart a shadow heartless they found. "What the hell are those things? I've never seen them around here before fighting CT."

"The heartless? I don't know why they're here either." Sora responds.

"So, what do they do?" Tucker asks.

"They're attracted to the darkness in peoples hearts. If they get you, you become one of them." Sora explains.

"That sounds really scary." Caboose says.

"No worries. Those are only shadows. They are the weakest type of heartless, and so far, they are the only ones we've seen here." Sora says.

"So whats the strongest type?" Tucker asks.

"I dunno. I haven't really thought about it." Sora responds. "Any way, we should check up on the reds."

"Yeah, could be causing trouble. Or just standing around talking like they always were for the last eight years." Tucker sighs as he and Sora move to find the reds as Caboose stays with the aliens.

The two look all around the temple area but the reds could not be found.

"Yo, dudes!" Tucker yells.

"Sarge! Grif!" Sora calls.

"Where'd you go!" Tucker calls. Caboose then comes up behind the pair.

"Hey, Tucker. Sora." Caboose says.

"Yeah whats up dude?" Tucker asks.

"Um, have you seen Church?" Caboose asks.

"Now that I think of it, we haven't seen him in the time we were searching." Sora mutters.

"No, we were looking for the red guys. Looks like they fixed one of the jeeps and took off." Tucker says.

"Oh. Well thats not good." Caboose says.

"Maybe Church went with them, or maybe they took him, I dunno dude." Tucker suggests.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Caboose says. "I don't think that would happen." Tucker and Sora then fully turn around.

"What! How the fuck would you know?" Tucker asks. The two then see the alien mob behind him.

"Cause if he was gone, I think some people who were looking for him might be really mad thats he's not here." Caboose explains. "...and we might have to explain to those people why he's not here... and those people might not like our explanation... and those people might hurt us with plasma guns and plasma grenades." Caboose explains.

"Ooohhhh." Sora realizes.

"I mean the aliens." Caboose states.

"Yeah, I figured that out." Tucker says.

"Did your time as an alien... ambassador ,or whatever, prepare you for a situation like this?" Sora asks.

"Uh, I don't think so dude." Tucker says. "Wait, I got an idea! Caboose come with me!" Tucker exclaims before he begins leading the two along with the alien pack.

(A few hours later)

Caboose was stuck atop a stone pillar with the aliens trying to reach him while Tucker and Sora are watching.

"This is kinda mean towards Caboose." Sora states

"Eh, you gotta do what you gotta do. This is a better option rather then than fighting them ourselves." Tucker explains.

"So... what do you think is gonna happen?" Sora asks

"Well, either the aliens will get tired out or they'll get to Caboose and eat him or something." Tucker explains.

"Tucker, help me!" Caboose yells.

"Yeah dude, I don't know. I don't really wanna get in between an angry mob and their religious iconography." Tucker says. "And I should know, I used to date an Italian girl."

"Just hold on Caboose! We'll find a way to get you down with out anyone hurting anyone!" Sora yells.

"Well start thinking! please." Caboose says. He the notices something. "Look! The reds! they're back, and they have your worship guy!" Tucker and Sora then notice Sarge.

"What the, Sarge?" Tucker says.

"Where did you go?" Sora asks.

"Not important. Whats important is that we're back. And we got Simmons too." Sarge says. "Wheres the water can? Oh, also, you got anymore spare jeeps around here? I don't want to get into it but we've identified a tactical weakness in the hood of the curret models. So uh, what are you guys doing? Killin' Caboose? Thats cool."

"There he is! He's the one that took Church! Get him." Caboose exclaims. The aliens all look to Sarge

"Ruh roh." Sarge responds. "Uh, we don't have your floating ball guy like the blue just said... uh, just one more soldier... come along, I'll prove it to you." Sarge says before leading everyone towards where ever Grif and Simmons are. Its along one of the temple walls that Sarge announces "Nope, they're right around this corner up here! Grif and Simmons! Right up here! Where we're walking! And you'll see once we get around this corner up here, we don't have any kind of floating device! No balls or spheres or anything! You'll see big group of aliens! We don't have anything like that at all!" Then the group rounds the corner to find Grif and another soldier, this one in a dark red colour armour, just standing there.

"Whoa!" The presumed to be Simmons exclaims. "I mean, what the 411 daddios? Me and my homie were just hanging all up in here. Desserts feel. Its all good. You know what I'm saying Skrillas." Sora can only look on in confusion on what the hell he is talking about.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Grif whispers to him.

"You told be to be cool." Simmons whispers back.

"Right, so what the fuck are you doing?" Grif repeats.

"As you can see, we don't have your stupid rolly bologna. Its just this yellow guy and MC Fonzarillo over here."

"Whateves yall, you don't know me." Simmons says in response. Tucker then pops up behind the group.

"Ah ha! Gotcha! See, I knew they would have it." He says.

"Uh, I don't see him." Caboose states. "Oh my god, he's invisible."

"Alright reds, what did you do with-" Tucker is cut off, seeing the reds running in the other direction.

"Quickly, come with me." Caboose whispers to Sora before booking it in the other direction. Sora follows and it is then Tucker says.

"We'll Caboose I guess we're on our- own damnit." The two circle back to the reds to see them stopped in front of the mind field.

"Oh, no! He landed in the middle of the, uh of the, there. The, uh over there." Caboose says, noticing that Church is in the mine field. However Simmons doesn't know this.

"So, lets grab em." Simmons suggest, not talking like a rapper anymore.

"Yeah, tell you what Simmons, why don't you go get him." Grif suggests.

"We'll secure the area here while you retrieve him." Sarge says.

"*Sighs* Okay, I don't have time for this." Simmons says before walking into the mine field and sets a mine off. "Owwwww!" He exclaims. "You knew didn't you."

"Yeah, kinda." Sora replies. Simmons hands Church to Caboose before asking.

"Who's the kid?"

"Oh, thats Sora. He came to help us fight shadow demons or something while we we're trying to get Church from this brown armoured douchebag." Grif explains.

"In some way, I'm glad I missed that, but in some other, I kinda wanna see those demons." Simmons says.

"I don't think you would want to." Sora warns.

"Ehh. Anyway, how did you meet up with Sarge and fat ass?" Simmons asks.

"I kinda got lost in the desert." Sora admits.

"And they picked you up because you had water and they needed some, because Sarge decided it would be a good idea to go without some." Simmons guesses as if it were obvious.

"Actually, no. Just lost." Sora says.

"Guys... I think he's waking up." Caboose says. Everyone turns their attention to Church.

"Why are all his blue parts green?" Grif asks.

"I don't know." Caboose says before Church looks up to him and speaks in a voice thats not his.

"Caboose. Is that you?"

"Delta?" Caboose asks. 'Something I'm going to have to ask about later.' Sora thinks.

"Caboose, I need you to listen, my time is brief. Epsilon is not in control right now. But he will be again shortly." Delta says.

"Great!" Caboose says.

"Perhaps not, the encounter with Agent Washington has jarred loose many of his memories. Epsilon has not -historically- coped with these memories well." Delta explains.

"Whatzz that mean." Grif lazily asks.

"We fear he may persue certain memories in particular." Delta explains.

"We?" Sora asks.

"Yes, Myself and the other memories of the Alphas fragments." Delta explains.

"What the fuck is that? Who the fuck are you, and what the fuck is happening?" Grif demands impatiently.

"Epsilon may not be aware of our presence. But eventually, he will be. We cannot hide forever." Delta explains. "It is likely at this point, he will begin the cycle again. That must not happen."

"What cycle. *gasp* a motercycle?"

"No Caboose. A cycle is like a circle." Sora explains.

"He's begun to search his memories now. He is clearly looking for something." Delta says.

"Well, you always did say memory is the key." Caboose says.

""Memory is the key" ... I like that." Sora says to himself.

"Memory is the key, Caboose, but not everything that is locked is meant to be unlocked. He is coming back now. I must leave before he discovers me."

"But if he meets you in there, than you can be friends!" Caboose suggests.

"Do one of you mind filling me in on whats going on?" Sora asks.

"I don't think so, I'm lost as it is." Simmons tells him.

"If only I was the memory that he's looking for." Delta says before all the green parts go back to blue and Church's voice is back.

"What? Oh. Hey. I must have- must have passed out. Sorry about that." Church apologizes.

"Church! Your back!" Caboose exclaims.

"Yeah, I am. Hey Caboose, come over here, wouldja, I need to talk to you about something." Church requests.

"Okay, where are we going?" Caboose asks as he follows him elsewhere.

"Hey guys, do you ever notice blue team has, like, a lot more stuff going on than us?"

"Yeah, boring stuff." Sarge replies.

"Nerdy stuff." Grif says.

"Blue... stuff?" Sora tries to contribute.

"Yeah, but I mean- all we ever talk about is food and guns." Simmons mentions.

"That reminds me, I'm hungry." Grif says.

"Stop complaining or I'll shoot you in the head." Sarge says.

"*sigh* Good times." Simmons sighs. Sora can only hold in his laughter watching the whole exchange.

(Around 10 minutes later)

The reds and Sora have now resorted to spying on Caboose and Church since they've run out of things to talk about.

"Lets go then. I thought it would take longer to convince you. C'mon, I wanna get to the facility before nightfall." The group over hears Church say.

"Facility, eh? I knew the blues were up to something." Sarge exclaims. "Come on men! Lets get after those blues! Sounds like this is the big opportunity we've been waiting for!"

"You mean our opportunity to find a place to hole up til this all blows over?" Grif asks.

"Some place that isn't a dessert?" Simmons adds.

"No! A place to finally restore the blues to commands data base. Get your typing fingers ready Simmons!" Sarge exclaims.

"I'll bring my carpal tunnel braces." Simmons sighs.

"Wait, restore the blues to command?" Sora asks.

"We'll explain on the way." Grif says.

"If we're gonna follow them, we'll need a vehicle." Sarge states.

"I'm sure we can grab another one from the camp down there." Grif says.

"Why do we need a vehicle? The blues are walking. I'm sure we can keep up with them on foot." Simmons suggest

"On foot!?" Grif cries out like Simmons is crazy.

"Uh, Simmons. We're the reds. We don't walk anywhere. We travel as the good lord intended! In the largest possible vehicle, with the maximum horse power allowed by local law enforcement." Sarge explains. "And if theres no cars available; we find the biggest, nastiest, meanest land animal we possibly can. Beat the crap outta it and saddle that puppy up."

"On foot. Shame on you, Simmons." Grif says. 'Good thing I didn't agree with him out loud.' Sora thinks, also having the same thoughts as Simmons.

"Sorry." Simmons apologizes.

"Lets just forget you ever mentioned it." Sarge suggests.

"I think it should go on his permanent record." Grif says.

"Oh, just get the fuckin jeep jackass." Simmons snaps.

"Sora, ya comin?" Sarge asks.

"Sure." Sora replies.

"I thought you were looking for someone here." Grif says.

"We'll... they aren't here." Sora says.

"Any you think they might have just so happened to have ended up exactly where ever we are going." Grif asks.

"Its a possibility." Sora says.

"I like the way this friend thinks. When we meet them, you think they would join the red army?" Sarge asks.

"Um... maybe?" Sora says, really not knowing how to respond.

"Alright men, secondary objective! Once we're done with Caboose and the fly ball, we recruit Sora's friend." Sarge announces.

"Yeah, cuz getting an army of underage teenagers is definitely a good idea." Grif deadpans. Simmons then arrives with the jeep and the four hop in. On the drive to where ever they are going, Sora takes the opportunity to ask Simmons some questions.

"Do you know anything about that Delta guy from earlier?" He asks.

"No. I don't. But I think he was an A.I." Simmons responds.

"A.I.?" Sora asks.

"Yeah, Artificial intelligence." Simmons responds. 'Kind of like Tron.' Sora thinks. "Judging by his name, I would say he was one of the freelancer A.I.s"

"Freelancer?" Sora asks.

"Its this program that experimented with A.I. and it had something to do with bad ass soldiers that do nothing but cause us trouble. Like this Wyoming guy that tried to kill us about a year back." Simmons explains.

"He tried to kill you!" Sora exclaims.

"Yeah, but Tucker stabbed him when he wasn't looking, the myself and my team killed all his time traveling clones, or something." 'Glad I missed that. I've had enough time traveling clones for a life time.' Sora thinks.

"Wyomings a strange name." Sora says to keep the conversation going.

"It was his code name. All freelancers had a code name based off a state in America, like Wyoming or Texas or Washington."

"Caboose mentioned a Washington. Were you friends?"

"We might have been. I dunno why, but when Sarge was with you, he attacked us with the Meta. He shot Lopez and Donut and held me prisoner. If it wasn't for Sarge I wouldn't have escaped." Simmons explains.

"Oh, sorry about your friends." Sora solomly says.

"Yeah... poor Donut. I'll miss him like a sister." Simmons says.

"What is the Meta?" Sora asks.

"Only the scariest fucking mute in the galaxy. He apparently killed a bunch of freelancers and took their equipment, but now he can't use them anymore. He and Washington were fighting but now they're working together."

Thee reds and Sora exit the warthog to find what looked to be the wall of the previously mentioned facility.

"Simmons, whats the status report?" Sarge asks.

"Gumball Mcjones and Caboose just went into that door." Simmons says.

"What door? All I see is a wall." Grif says.

"Its a secret door." Simmons says.

"Great idea Simmons." Sora comments.

"Simmons. What did I tell you about using dungeons and dragons references in combat situations." Sarge asks.

"Sorry sir. Its a concealed door." Simmons sighs.

"Thats better." Sarge comments.

"How did they open it?" Grif asks.

"They talked to that computer." Simmons points to the computer screen mounted to a tree. "They got it to open the door by posing as members of Project Freelancer. If we pose as agents, it'll probably let us in too."

"Aren't agents, like, tough and good at things?" Grif asks.

"We'll all just pick a state name and call ourselves by that." Simmons explains. "Y'know, like agent Washington. Grif, name a state."

"What is this, a pop quiz?" Grif asks. "Uhhh, lets see eh du Manhatten. No? Eh Europe."

"Wow, really?" Simmons asks.

"Uh, Pacific ocean." Sora gives Grif a questioning look on that one.

"Stop guessing. Just be agent Alaska. How about you Sarge?" Simmons asks.

"I'll be secret agent double O-hio! License to be tall in the middle and round on both ends." Sarge exclaims.

"And you Sora?" Simmons asks.

"Uh... I can't really decide how about you pick one for me." Sora suggests.

"You'll be agent Iowa. And I'll be agent Denial. Get it?" Simmons asks. After Simmons rambles to himself, the group goes towards the computer and gives it their state names, except for Grif who answered with Pluto. Sora didn't know how Grif knew of the dog, but he didn't have time to ask, as Sarge delivered a few shotgun shells straight into the computer. Apparently, this causes it malfunction and open the door for them. The four head inside.

"I told you that stupid plan wouldn't work." Grif complains.

"Thats because you said your name was agent Pluto!" Simmons exclaims.

"Heh. Luckily we had the ol' contingency plan to fall back on." Sarge says.

"Sarge, shotgun to the face is not a contingency plan. I keep telling you that." Grif sighs.

"Don't be so quick to judge, Grif. Shot gun in the face can be applied in a variety of tough situations. For instance, what how quickly it cures insubordination." Sarge points his shot gun at Grif.

"Shouldn't we be focusing on finding Caboose and Church. And asking them why they came here?" Sora asks.

"Oh no!" Everyone hears Caboose yells as tye sound of something breaking rings across the room.

"What was that!" Sora exclaims.

"It came from down here!" Sarge leads the way. The group eventually find Caboose standing in front of what looked like a large door.

"Just keep the door shut." Caboose says to the computer as the group arrives.

"Caboose, where Church?" Sora asks.

"Stop! Don't move. Don't move. Don't-" Sora can here Church say from behind the door before the sound of more things breaking.

"Oh! Hello everyone. Yes, everyone who wasn't here before is now here now." Caboose says.

"What are you up to, blue." Sarge asks.

"Me? Um, nothing. I'm not hiding anything behind this door." Caboose says.

"Uh, I wouldn't pick that up, it looks expensive." They can hear Church again.

"Uh, I think he's lying." Simmons says.

"What was your first clue." Grif sarcastically asks.

"Let us see what in there." Sarge demands.

"In here? Oh, um nothing is in here. But this probably isn't even a door either." Caboose rambles.

"But you said that was a door." Sora says.

"What? Uh, no I didn't say this was a door, I said this was a-" Caboose is cut off by a large bang on the "door".

"What the heck was that?" Sarge asks.

"Oh, um, that was me. I said this isn't a door. I said its a GONG!" Caboose exclaims.

"A gong? What the hell is-" Grif is cut off with another large bang.

"Uh, Gong!" Caboose exclaims. "I'm just going to walk over this way now." Caboose says before doing just that, while saying excuse me to imaginary people as the banging on the door gets louder.

"Um, Sarge whats the plan here?" Grif asks.

"Men, we have a perfect ambush scenario." Sarge informs.

"I agree. but wait, are we the ambushers or the ambushees?" Simmons asks. "Hey, can you ambush something thats trying to beat its way through metal plating to get to you?"

"Okay, first we just wait for the door to open. Sarge says. The three ready their guns while Sora summons Kingdom Key.

"What the-" Simmons trails off at the sight of Sora pulling his keyblade out of nowhere.

"Simmons, get ready." Sarge orders him. The door then get even more demolished before blowing off entirely, to reveal another figure in the same armour as everyone but Caboose, though this one black. The figure exits the room it was currently in and says in a feminine voice.

"Okay. So whos first." She asks, very intimidatingly.

As soon as the female said her part, the reds turned tail and ran away while screaming and shooting, both missing horribly, while Sora stood there ready for a fight. She charged at Sora while he prepared to block but to his surprise, this new person was strong enough to knock him all the way to the big room the reds ran in. Sora then went on the offensive, swing his keyblade at her, getting a few hits before she started dodging said strikes.

"Who are you! Why are you attacking us!?" Sora demands while he is attacking. She does not answer his questions, instead quickly taking a shot gun of the ground and blocking one of Sora's strikes with it. Quicker than the eye can see, she moves to hand to hand and begins beating the shit outta Sora for a bit until he recovers. Sora then activates his shotlock, though while he is doing so, the mystery woman grabs a teleporter and throws it at Sora. He goes into it and appears somewhere else in the room. He quickly over comes his confusion and heads back in the teleporter he came to find his target plowing Grif and Sarge through some metal crates and finally, into a stack of barrels. Sora takes this opportunity to activate his shotlock again and he successfully locks on to her. Sora then fires a barrage of magic projectiles at her, causing her to take cover behind a multitude of objects to avoid being hit.

"Okay, thats fucking magic. That shouldn't be possible." Grif complains as he recovers.

"Shut up, Grif. Its a good thing we recruited Sora into the red team before those blues got to him. They're gonna regret messin' with us when we got magic on our side. But anyways, back in to the fight! Need to deliver an ass kickin." Sarge orders.

"So your delivering it to us?" Grif asks, having a pretty good idea of what the end result will be. As promised, Sarge heads in the battle as Sora is forced up close with the enemy again.

"Yahhhhh!" Sarge cries as he charges towards her.

"Sarge no!" Sora cries, but its too late. She grabs Sarges shot gun, uses it to pull him over and then throws him into Sora. She then quickly uses the shot gun as a baseball bat to smack Grif in the head while he was trying to sneak up on her. She releases her grip on the shot gun and performs multiple punches to his head before kneeing him in the crotch, knocking him down, and then delivering a powerful punch to his balls before kicking him away, into a teleporter. At that time, Sarge and Sora are back on their feet, though Sarge doesn't stay up for long.

It is just Sora and the mystery person again, but just before they clash again.

"Hey, sweet cheeks!" Someone that sounds like Tucker yells before the person ducks under a plasma grenade. Sora looks to see Tucker standing there with his energy sword. "Remember me! Step away from the idiot!" Sora takes this opportunity to slash at Tex, though she sees it coming and dodges before punching Sora away. Sora lands beside Grif in time to watch Tucker attempt to distract her.

"Remember me? Does Tucker know who that is?" Sora asks.

"I would think we're all very aquainted." Grif groans.

"Some more than others." Sarge adds.

"Thats Tex. A freelancer. Though I don't know why shes here. I thought we blew her up." Grif explains.

"You ratted me out you son of a bitch!" Sora heres Simmons yell, and looks just in time to see Tex redirect a rocket at him using a teleporter. This causes Simmons to be blown through another one and right into Tex's hands where she kicks him...

"That was awesome! Oof!" ...straight into Tucker. Everyone then gets up from their position.

"What do we do Sarge?" Grif asks.

"I don't know, I've never hit a girl in my life." Sarge replies.

"Yeah, I noticed. Try harder." Simmons says. Sora and Tucker ready their keyblades, Sarge and Simmons aim their shotgun and rocket launcher respectively, and Grif gets ready to try to defend himself with a traffic cone. Tex then charges and somehow manages to deliver an ass kicking to all of them. 'I've never fought anyone this good, maybe besides Xehanort. Just who is she?' Sora mentally asks after getting beaten down again. Just then, Sora sees Tex kick Grif in the balls again, using that same foot to pin him to the floor and aim Sarges shotgun at him.

"No! Grif!" Both Sora and Simmons exclaim. Sora unleashes a quick firaga that actually hits Tex. This only seems to make her angry though as she points Sarges shot gun at him and fires. The shot gun is empty.

"Private Grif! You should be ashamed of yourself! We've run out of ammo again! Thats you responsibility!" Sarge yells to him.

"Huh, I guess this is the first time my laziness has ever saved someones LIFE!" Grif watch's in horror as Tex prepares to hit him with the shotgun. "Protect me cone!" Grif begs, though he is smacked across the room. Tex then throws the shotgun at Sora, stunning him and allowing her to get up close. Sora makes a stabbing motion with his keyblade, stoping what ever Tex was going to do for a little, but it ultimately proves futile as she grabs his keyblade and uses it to throw him across the room, over to Grif. Tex, still with the keyblade, turns it the right way around and begins inspecting it, probably to see how it did all that it could. However it disappears out of her hands, frustrating her a little. Luckily for her, there was someone to take it out on.

"You idiots! Let me show you how its done!" Sarge yells before being decked in the face.

"Nice demonstration, Sarge." Grif sarcastically congratulates.

"Eh, shut up." Sarge grumbles.

"Hey guys, look up there." Simmons whispers. The four look up to see a big, metal, crate hanging above Tex. Tucker notices this too and yells.

"Hey Caboose! Remember when I said not to help me! Forget that! I need you to help me! Right now!" Tucker yells. few seconds later and the crates comes down. Tucker roll out of the way. "I can't believe that worked!" Tex is seen holding up the crate. 'We sure this isn't a female Hercules?' Sora asks himself. "Oh fuck, that didn't work." Tex then throws the crate at the group. Grif tries in vain to get the door behind them open, while Simmons and Sarge just stand around while Sora freezes up. He did have a way to survive this, though he couldn't think of a way to save the others. Luckily, Tucker already had one. "Don't worry guys, I got this." He ready's his energy sword as the crate flies closer, and... "Swish!" Tucker slices the crate in two, though this causes everyone behind him to get buried in the medical supplies in the crate.

"Oh thank god. I thought I was a goner." Simmons said, relived. "Sarge, where are you?" Sarge's head then pops out of a mountain of medical kits.

"What happened? I feel defeated. Yet, inexplicably rejuvenated." Sarge says. 'probably should take advantage of this then.' Sora thinks before casting a curaga spell on himself. The four gather themselves up just in time to see Tucker slide past them and into a teleporter, back into Tex's grasp. It is then, they see Tex has his energy sword. Though before she can do any damage, the sword shuts off.

"Whats the matter Tex? Having trouble keeping it up?" Tucker asks. "Don't worry, it happens to everybody. Well not me but-"

"That rocket launchers one of the older models, right?" Sarges question drowns out whatever Tuckers saying.

"Yeah." Simmons replies.

"That means its got heat seeking! Now lock on and let 'er rip." Sarge replies.

"If heat seeking is in the older model, why not the new ones?" Sora asks.

"How the fuck should I know? Power balancing?" Simmons suggests.

"Please, this a fuckin video game?" Grif remarks.

"-bitch!" Tucker yells as he is thrown out of the teleporter, but his armour is black. "Damn it, I hate this black stuff. What the hell is it?"

"There she is!" Grif exclaims.

"What?" Tucker looks to the group.

"Get her!" Sarge orders before charging in along with Grif.

"Wait! Guys!" Sora exclaims, but it is no use as Sarge delivers a beat on Tucker while Grif weakly kicks him.

"Sarge, hold on! Hold on! I think thats Tucker, not Tex." Simmons exclaims.

"See, I told you." Tucker says before given one last punch by Sarge. "Ow, Hey you fucker! Why'd you do that?"

"Eh, force of habbit." Sarge replies.

"Man you guys are- AH!" Tucker trips on a medical kit, to which Grif hold him up from falling into the nearby teleporter.

"Don't fall in the-" Grif starts. Hold still. Hold still I can see her!"

Sora looks to find Tex standing by the other teleporter. "This won't end well." He says as he watches Tex pop through the teleporter for the only purpose to punch Grif in the balls causing him, and Tucker, to fall though.

"What is your problem with my balls?" Grif asks as he falls through. He and Tucker appear on the other side where Tucker is lifted up and slammed down by Tex, who then hops right on top of him.

"Wow, right to the mount, huh?" Tucker says before he is repeatedly punched.

"Simmons, or Sora! What are you waiting for!" Sarge exclaims.

"I don't want to hit Tucker!" Sora exclaims, though his keyblade is still trained on them both along, Simmons and his rocket launcher doing the same.

"They look the same! Which one do I shoot!" Simmons panics.

"Shoot the one thats winning, dumbass!" Tucker says amongst one of the two Texas. Grif then wobbles in front of both their lines of fire.

"Grif! Watch it!" Simmons exclaims. Tex takes notice of the situation, and kicks Tucker into Grif before pulling him back and delivering a powerful punch to Tucker that knocks all the black stuff off his armour.

"Wow, knocked the black right off of yah." Sarge states.

"Thats racist." Tucker mumbles.

"Your all clear Simmons! Now shoot her!" Sarge yells.

"Fire in the hole!" Simmons hollers before firing on Tex. She however, jumps through a teleporter, with the rocket following her, leading back running towards the group.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? Runnn!" Tucker yells. While the reds and blue are stumbling over each other, Sora attempts to hit her with some thundaga, but she some how manages to dodge them all.

"What! No ones ever dodged thundaga!" Sora exclaims. Grif can only sigh at this.

"She is... inevitable."

Tex then hits Sarge, Simmons, and Tucker all with one punch before sliding under Grif and Sora, but not before tripping Sora. The rocket then flies just under Grif balls and over Sora head.

"Oh god, not like this!" Grif pleads before the rocket passes under him. "Oh thank god, I thought I was-" Grif is cut off upon seeing the rocket hit some explosive barrels behind them. "FUCK!" He yells as he and the other are knocked away by the explosion. While the reds and blue travel upwards, Sora is launched more horizontally, and hits a crate to stop his fall. 'Tex must be really powerful. I might not have to hold back.' Sora thinks as he pops a potion in his mouth. He looks up in time just to see Grif land, balls first, on a concrete barricade. "Why won't you just kill me." He moans.

"Hey Tex!" Sora hears a familiar voice say, before Tex is hit with what looks like Church's body. Sora then looks to see a person in light blue armour was the one to throw it. "How about picking on somebody your own size." He says smugly. 'Wait.' Sora thinks on the voice. 'Thats Church!'

"Ow! Ow. Ow!" Is all Church can say as Tex beats on him with the monitor that used to be his body. "Stop it! Tex, you are embarrassing me. Hey, are you guys gonna help me- ah- or not?"

"Nah, buddy. I think you got everything under control." Sarge says as Sora walks up to the rest of red team and casts a healing spell on them. "We'll just hang back- woah, I feel so better all of a sudden."

"Oh, thank god, yes!" Grif exclaims as he throws the medical pack that was once concealing his nether regions.

"Hey, whats she beating him with?" Sarge asks.

"I think that was his old body." Simmons asks.

"You mean he ain't a floating cue ball anymore? Thats to bad, had a few more nick names in my side pocket." Sarge says. "We'll certainly miss you lord hack n sack of the round a lots."

"Beating him with his own body? That doesn't seem physically possible." Grif says.

"Out of context, I guess not." Sora agrees. "Anyway, should we be helping him?" Sora asks, getting ready to fight again.

"Are you really in so much of a rush to get beaten up again?" Grif asks. "I sure Church will be fine... maybe."

"I wouldn't be to worried either. If she does kill him, he'll just come back as a ghost... or A.I." Simmons explains. Just then a cute ding rings over the speakers in the room.

"Now initiating standard safety protocol. Armour lockdown in progress." The computer from outside then says over said speakers. "All units standby for lockdown." After it said that, an aura surrounded Tex and she slowed down until she was still.

"Wha- whats happening? Caboose! What did you do to her?" Church yells.

"Yes yes! I did it!" Caboose can be heard from somewhere, though Sora can't tell where he is. "I am the biggest hero ever! I beat up a girl!"

"Haha, yes! See! Thats how you do it Grif! Face your enemy man to man. Or in your case, woefully inadequate man to women. And then when shes distracted, use superior technology to take her out!" Sarge explains "*sniff* Reminds me of prom night."

"We didn't do anything, she shut down!" Grif exclaims.

"I am the best!" Caboose yells from far away.

"Uhh, hey guys? What do you think that voice meant by all units?" Simmons asks before the same aura surrounded the red soldiers.

"I did it! I- not my fault! I did not do this! The computer made suggestions. And the default option was yes!" Caboose yells.

"Well this is just great." Grif grunts in his frozen state.

"Whats happening! Caboose! Make it stop!" Church yells before being frozen. "Sora... get up there and get the armour lockdown shut off. I don't trust Caboose to do it." He strains.

"I'll see what I can do." Sora says before heading off to find Caboose. He eventually finds the room he was hiding in. "Caboose! Shut down the armour lock!"

"I dunno how!" Caboose exclaims. "Oh by the way, I think you dropped this." Caboose says more calmly while handing something over. Upon closer inspection, Sora realizes its his gummi phone.

"Oh... uh thanks Caboose." Sora thanks. "You didn't go on it did you?"

"I did. I read the instruction story it came with." Caboose says. Sora visibly deflated. Yet another friend knew he was from another world. "I liked the part with dream thingys and when people became friends. So you are searching for Rik-oo?"

Sora sighs. "I'm looking for Kairi."

"I thought it was pronounced Carrie." Caboose says.

"Look, Caboose. Can you promise me you will not tell anyone else I'm from whats essentially another universe?" Sora asks.

"I am very good at keeping secrets." Caboose says. "Don't worry, Sora. I will not tell anyone. After all, you didn't tell anyone I had Church, its only right." Sora smiles at this.

"Thanks Caboose." The two are silent for a moment.

"Oh right!" Caboose gasps. "Sheila, can you take Church out of armour lunchable?" Caboose asks.

"Affermative." The computer, now know as Shelia responds. "Deactivating recovery mode."

While Sora was in the room with Caboose, he looks out the window to see Tucker and Church walk up to the reds, who are still in lockdown.

"Sheila, can uh can they hear me?" Church asks.

"Affirmative" Sheila responds.

"She said yes!" Caboose yells over some microphone.

"We heard her dip shit!" Tucker yells.

"I know, I just wanted to use the microphone!" Caboose says. "It makes me sound super loud! I'm not sure if you can tell!"

"Caboose, I'm gonna go down there to see what they're talking about. You coming with?" Sora asks.

"Yeah, I'll... I'll be there in a sec." Caboose replies. "Attention Freelancer shoppers!" Caboose yells back into the microphone. "We have a special on self-esteem goods in aisle seven!"

"Sheila, please mute him." Church says as Sora gets closer to him.

"Affirmative." Shelia responds.

"This is Michael J Caboose signing-" Caboose says before cut off. Sora found Cabooses announcements quite funny.

"Hey reds! Can you hear me!" Church yells at the still frozen red team.

"Who in sam heaven is that?" Sarge asks.

"Is that God?" Simmons asks.

"Hey almighty! Can it! Some of us are tryina to get a little shut eye!" Grif attempts to yell.

"No blasphemy." Sarge says.

"What do you want god?" Simmons asks. "Take Grif, he's been terrible."

"Its not god, dude. Its Church. He just thinks he's god." Tucker explains. "This is just what you need, more people worshipping you."

"Yeah, hey listen. We wanna let you out, but we don't want you to attack us or Tex. Okay?" Church requests.

"Attack Tex? She attacked us!" Simmons exclaims.

"Yeah, I would have to agree with Simmons. Why not attack Tex?" Sora asks.

"Its cause Tex is sort of his girlfriend, while also simultaneously not his girlfriend." Tucker explains.

"Huh?" Sora questions.

"Thats the best way I can explain it. They love each other, but they hate the others guts." Tucker says.

"Just agree and we'll let you out." Church impatiently says.

"Uh, fine." Simmons huffs.

"Whatever." Grif agrees. Sarge just makes angry noises as his agreement.

"I'm gonna assume that last one was a yes." Church says. "Alright, let em out Sheila!"

"Affirmative. Ending recovery mode, all units." Shelia announces before the aura around the reds disappears and they begin moving again.

"Ugh! My neck was killing me!" Sarge exclaims. After all this, the group now joined by Caboose, all huddle around Tex's frozen body.

"I'm waking her up." Church bluntly states.

"No way buddy." Sarge gruffly says. " You musta missed the smash fest we went through. I ain't repeating that."

"Hey, we made a deal. I unlock you, you have to help me with her." Church reminds them.

"Hey, now hold on a second." Grif starts.

"This affects the entire crew, I say we put it to a vote." Simmons suggests. "All those in favor of waking her up and letting her kill us, say 'aye'."

"Aye. Caboose?" Church says.

"Present." Caboose responds.

"No, we're not doing that. Just say aye." Church says.

"You... Opps, I mean me!" Caboose says.

"No. Aye."

"Church."

"Just say aye."

"Oh, I get it, right sorry. My left eye or my right eye?"

"He votes yes."

"I would also like it noted that I was present."

"Okay, and everyone in favor of not doing that thing, and leaving her asleep and not getting killed, by the person we're not going to wake up, because nobody is that stupid say nay." Sarge rambles.

"That was kinda unnecessarily long." Sora points out.

"Like, a quadruple negative." Simmons adds.

"Just vote!" Sarge demands.

"Nay?" Simmons votes.

"I didn't even understand the question, so I'm just going to say blueberry." Grif says.

"We'll Sora, looks like your the tie breaker." Sarge says. Sora hated being put in these positions. Luckily, he thought a way out of it.

"Can't we just talk to her and convince her to not beat us up or something, like we did you guys?" Sora suggests. There is a brief moment of silence.

"We'll shit. Thats actually a good idea." Tucker compliments.

"I'll try this." Church leaves his body, looking like a white, transparent, version of himself and enters Tex. (That would be bad out of context)

"Whoa, what?" Sora exclaims.

"Oh, yeah. He can do that too." Sarge says.

"You know how Church is an A.I. right? We'll he can leave his body and posses other via the helmet radios." Tucker explains. "Like it won't work on you since your not wearing a helmet, but when he does that he can kinda posses people."

"Thats why we thought he was a ghost for so long." Simmons adds.

"Theres a lot you haven't explained to me and we probably won't get the time." Sora brings up.

"Yeah, probably not." Tucker agrees. Then Church comes out of Tex and gets back in his own body. "What did she say?"

"Okay, I think we got it all worked out." Church says.

"She cool?" Grif asks.

"As cool as she ever was." Church says.

"That does not inspire confidence in me." Grif deadpans.

"Wake her up Sheila!" Church orders.

"Affirmative." Shelia responds. The red troopers then back away from Tex as Shelia says, "Ending recovery mode all units." Tex then gets back on her feet.

"Uhh. How are you feeling?" Church asks. Tex then runs up to Tucker and decks him in the face.

"Better now." Tex replies.

"What the fuck?" Tucker exclaims.

"Oh right... I forgot to mention one thing." Church starts.

"I'm going to go see what weapons they have stored here." Tex says before leaving Church alone in the room.

"K, need any help?" Church asks before she leaves.

"Director?" Sheila calls out.

"Yeah, what?" Church asks.

"Shortly after your arrival, an alien device entered the building. Its security detail was very low, so I hacked into it and downloaded its files. I think you would find these most interesting." Shelia explains.

"Maybe I'll look at later." Church responds.

"Oh and Directer! Before you leave, would you like to make a journal entry?" Sheila asks. "It has been quite awhile since your last update."

"Journal?" Church asks.

"Yes! I know you are busy, but you always ask me to remind you when you are falling behind on documentation." Shelia replies. "Documentation is a very important part of any scientific endeavour."

"Right, um hey, why don't you play one of the entries for me?" Church requests.

"Certainly." Sheila replies. She then plays one of the recordings, and the (real) directors voice is heard.

**"The counsellers insistence on referring to Agent Texas as a byproduct continues to frustrate me."**

"Sheila, I want you to transfer all these files to me, including the ones you just downloaded." Church orders.

"Understood, transferring now." Sheila says as the recording is still playing.

"And do me a favour. Delete the rest." Church says.

"Deleting entry's." Shiela complies.

* * *

Sora, Tucker, and Caboose where just standing around when Church approached.

"Hey, have you guys seen Tex anywhere?" He asks. Just then, Tex appears. "There you are. Woah! Whats with the new armour?"

"I'm leaving, Church." Tex answers.

"What! Where?" Church asks.

"Can't say. There's some things I need to look into." Tex replies.

"Your going to that frozen base aren't you." Church says.

"Frozen base?" Sora looks to Tucker and Caboose.

"Hey, I dunno. A lot of new information can come in. Just roll with it dude. Thats what I do." Tucker responds.

"I need to know more about myself, Church. And I'm not going to find anything out by sitting around on my ass with all of you." Tex says. She and Church ignoring Sora and Tucker.

"Well, let us come with you." Church says.

"You guys? This is a military operation. I need people with military training." Tex declines.

"We have military training." Grif brings up from behind the group.

"I need people who understand the military training." Tex says. She then looks to Sora. "I would invite you seem to know how to fight, and you have that impressive alien weapon, but I would prefer not to send kids into battle."

"Hey, I am not a kid." Sora complains.

"Right." Tex replies. "Either way, your not coming."

"Well I am and you cant stop me." Church says.

"Yeah? Okay. I have a feeling I can use you before this is done." Tex says before she and Church leave the group to exit the building.

"Oh and when you both get killed again? Be sure to let us know. That way we can revive you, so that you can run off and get killed. Again. Seriously! It never gets old to us!" Tucker yells as they leave. "So... what now?"

"I can tell everyone a story." Caboose suggests.

"Sure." Sora says.

"Dear god, please don't." Tucker mutters.

"Yeah, so one day..."

"Why would you go along with this? Cabooses story's are the most retarded things I've every heard." Tucker says.

"I didn't know that. Besides, how do we know they're that bad?" Sora asks.

"Dude, I've been living with him for years back in Blood Gulch. I know everything he does and how to avoid it." Tucker explains. Just then an orange blurr zooms by the group.

"Hey Caboose!" The blurr says as it passes by.

"Woah! What the hell was that?" Tucker exclaims.

"What was what?... Hey Grif!" Caboose greets the already gone blurr.

Tucker sighs "Also in Blood Gulch, after Caboose was done doing something stupid, the reds would show up and do something stupid. Just like old times."

"I'm just gonna go find the washroom, continue on the story without me." Tucker bails from Cabooses story time.

"Wha, its okay, Tucker. We can wait for you." Caboose proposes.

"No! I mean uh no just keep going." Tucker then leaves.

"Okay." Caboose starts. Then Sarge comes in.

"Oh! Hello red sargent." Caboose greets.

"Caboose... could you do a favor for me?" Sarge asks with a depressed tone.

"Sure!" Caboose cheerily answers. Sarge then goes up to Caboose and whispers something in his ear! "Oh! Great idea! I'll start making them right now!" Caboose then runs off.

"Sarge? Is everything okay?" Sora asks, noticing Sarges unenthusiastic tone when talking to Caboose.

"Okay? Okay! No! Everything is meaningless!" Sarge yells.

"Okay. Did you want to talk about it?" Sora asks.

"Simmons and Grif were diggen around the storage facilitys computer and found all info regarding the red and blue armies." Sarge explains. "But what they found out was us reds aren't actually fighting the blues! We're just there to be training dummy's for freelancers! Meaning everything I've lived for was a lie!"

"Done." Caboose gets back.

"Good." Sarge marches into the newly constructed mini base.

"I-I could be wrong but he looked kinda sad." Caboose brings up.

"He is. Do you know anything that can cheer him up?" Sora asks.

"I know! You can kill Griff! That would pit him in a great mood!" Caboose exclaims.

"What! No! Do you know anyway that doesn't involve hurting someone?" Sora asks.

"No." Caboose flatly states. Then Grif and Simmons enter the room.

"What is all this?" Grif asks.

"Oh, this is new red base." Caboose explains. "Welcome."

"When did you build this?" Simmons asks.

"Just now." Caboose says.

"What!? He just walked out of the room like ten seconds ago!" Grif exclaims.

"Oh he got sad about something so, he's making a red base here." Caboose explains, or rather he doesn't. "I am great at building forts. See? I already built a blue base." Caboose points towards a couch and chair with a blanket draped over them with a blue broom to the side. "Our has blankets."

"Go away!" Sarge yells from atop his base.

"Sarge, what is all this?" Simmons questions.

"Simmons, didn't you hear? We're cannon fodder. Practice. Well if I'm the leader of junk, then I may as well have a base made out of junk. Pretty appropriate right?" Sarge exclaims.

"Looks like shit." Grif says.

"That was rhetorical, dirtbag." Sarge yells back.

"Well sir, I think this is an excellent strategy." Simmons comments. "The blues we-"

"Blues? Simmons, don't you get it yet? Grif was right all along!"

"Thank you sir." Grif says.

"Don't call me that anymore." Sarge yells.

"Sarge, this place is one lie after another." Simmons brings up. "We don't know-"

"Oh, we know. I know." Sarge starts. "You want to fool yourself, fo ahead."

"Your just upset, sir." Simmons says.

"Don't call me that."

"What? Call you what?"

"Sir. From now on, you call me by my name. Sarge! Or s-dawg. I'm not in charge anymore. I quit."

"You what?"

"Uh oh, I've got the feeling somebody else's world just got rocked." Grif comments.

"Eh, I'll start working on another fort." Caboose says. He then leaves to go into the room with Shelia.

"Don't you guys know anything that can cheer him up?" Sora asks.

"Wha? If we did, we would have done it for him. I mean, aside from killing Grif." Simmons says.

"Welp, now that Sarge has quit, I guess I don't take orders from anyone anymore. This is the best day of my life!" Grif begins to walk away.

"What! The best day of your life! Your friends upset!" Sora yells at him.

"Friend?! What made you think he and I were friends. We hated each other. Him talking of killing me wasn't a joke!" Grif yells. Tucker then joins in the conversation.

"Sorry we didn't tell you. I thought it would be kind of obvious, but no one is really friends here. Just forced acquaintances." Just then Caboose runs into the room.

"Sergeant, sergeant!" He panicks.

"What do you want, blue?" Sarge asks.

"I need your help."

"Our help?" Simmons questions.

"Yes, Church is hurt. They must have gotten to him and Tex." Caboose explains.

"They got Tex? Good. That just means she won't be able to beat the hell out of us anymore." Grif says.

"No we have to rescue them." Caboose says.

"Rescue them? Are you nuts? No one told them to leave. They're on their own." Grif brushes it off.

"But they'll die!" Caboose exclaims. "Sergeant, please."

"Uh, hey dude, I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but if you want to convince Sarge to do anything, I don't think the best argument is 'the blues might die if we don't.'" Grif says.

"Don't worry Caboose. I'll go with you." Sora steps up.

"Thank you. I really appreciate that. If we can't save Church, then you can be my new best friend!" Caboose offers. Sarge then steps up and surprises everyone.

"Cowboy up, Caboose. I'm comin with you."

"What?" Grif says out loud what everyone is thinking.

"I said, I'm helping him." Sarge repeats.

"Who, the blue guy? Why on Earth would you ever help a blue for no reason?" Grif questions.

"We'll need some weapons. How'd your equipment test go Simmons?" Sarge ignores Grif.

"About as well as you would expect." Simmons replies.

"Uh, thats to bad." Sarge replies.

"Well I'm not going and you can't make me. You quit remember? I don't take orders from you anymore and besides, this whole command structure thing was bullshit anyway. We all know that now." Grif says. Sora was starting to see why Sarge hated him.

"I'm not telling you to go. I'm not even asking." Sarge clairifies.

"Your not?" Grif questions.

"Nope. I'm going. Thats it. You wanna come? Come one. But I don't expect you to. Simmons will probably tell you statistically, spme of us will probably die." Sarge explains.

"All of us." Simmons corrects.

"All of us will probably die." Sarge corrects. "But thats not whats important. Let me ask you two a question, do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"Ummm it does seem to be one of life's great mystery's." Grif replies.

"No, I mean you! What are you doing here!" Sarge clarifies. "You always act like you wanna quit. But hell, you could've left whenever you wanted, no one would have stopped you. So why are you here. And you! Simmons!"

"Me?" Simmons asks.

"You say you want to be in charge. They would have given you your own squad a dozen times over. You know it and I know it. But your still here." Sarge continues. "Sora! You said you needed to find a friend. You could have left to continue searching for them at anytime. But your still here."

"Well..." Sora starts off but Sarge continues.

"And you, Tucker. As much as I hate to admit it, you're actually good at being a soldier."

"I am?" Tucker questions.

"I know you like to make your rude comments and pretend that it all doesn't matter. But an entire alien race choose you to be their hero. So why are you here? And Caboose... Its good to see you."

"Thanks. I'm really enjoying the speech so far." Caboose comments.

"Maybe your all here because this is the only place you fit in. Maybe your here because you don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe your here because deep down, you want to be here. The reason doesn't matter, what matters is that your here. And for all we know, Tex and Church are dead, That means we're the only ones who know whats happened. The only ones who can prevent them from covering it up. The way I figure it, these Freelancer guys want to use us. Take us away from our family's, and send us all over the damn gum galaxy just to test if their agents are ready for the big fight. Well, I guess I'm interested in showing them exactly what a big fight is about. Time to clean a slate. So I'm not ordering you to go. I ain't even asking. You do what you gotta do private Grif."

Grif sighs. "I'll go get my car keys." Sora smiles at Grif's change of heart.

"Ahaha. Alright then. Lets move!" Sarge cheers.

"I don't think a jeep will get us there soon enough. But I think I know what we can use." Simmons says before leading the group into another room. Smack, landed, in the centre is some sort of military plane. "This."

"Who the hells gonna drive that?" Grif asks, only to find everyone staring at him. "Why is everyone looking at me?"

The ride to Church was uneventful, save for the arguing with Grif's terrible flying. Sora spent most of the time looking out the cockpit, to see where they would be heading. To his dismay, it was an ice canyon. But before he can complain to himself about the cold, he sees Church in the distance along with a purple soldier. A bit farther away from the, he sees a black soldier with yellow highlights.

"There they are! Land right next to em!" Sarge orders.

"Right. Land." Grif repeats.

"You do know how to land this vehicle, don't ya?" Sarge asks.

"Sure, that just means stop flying, right?" Grif asks.

"Brace for impact!" Sarge yells.

"Oh shit, this is gonna suck." Tucker exclaims.

"I still haven't gotten my peanuts." Caboose brings up. 'Why didn't I offer to fly this?' Sora mentally asks himself. He flew Donald and Goofy's gummi ship, how hard could this one be? The ship crashes in the canyon and slides through it nearing the edge, almost hitting the purple soldier.

"Grif! Look what you did to our ship!" Sarge exclaims as the group gets out.

"Ah fuck it, its a rental." Grif replies.

"Good point. fuck it." Sarge agrees before kicking it off the edge.

"Has anybody seen Tex?" Church asks them.

"I'm sorry, Epsilon. The Meta captured her in the memory unit." The black and yellow soldier explains.

"There it is!" Church exclaims before walking over to a small black and red device. "Over here! Help!"

"Epsilon, theres nothing we can do, shes stuck in there." The soldier says.

"So, why not let her out?" Sora asks.

"We've rigged it so its one-way. We didn't want him to escape again."

"Wait, are you agent Washington?" Sora asks.

"Yes." Washington says, not even bothering to ask who Sora is and what he's doing here.

"Well un-rig it." Church orders.

"I need to get it to a lab. Somewhere with tools." Washington explains.

"Simmons?" Church asks.

"Hey, he's the expert. I don't know what I can do to help." Simmons explains.

"And its in no condition to move." Washington adds on. "If it locks down before I can open it, she'll be trapped in there."

"We should try something." Simmons says.

"If I let her out, you have to come with me." Washington states.

"Yes, fine, just get her out." Church replies without hesitation.

"Caboose, Tucker, get in the base. See if you can find some tools." Washington orders. You three find me anything that has power. Anything and everything. We're gonna need a lot to keep it online." He tells the reds.

"And, uh, Sora. Stay here incase the Meta comes back." Church says.

"Got it." Sora whips out his keyblade.

"The huh?" Washington questions.

"Don't question it." Church says.

"What happened here?" Sora asks.

"The Meta and I where hunting Epsilon, here, when we came across Tex. We fought and the Meta managed to capture her in the unit you see here." Washington explains. "Once he got her, he turned on me and tried to take Epsilon for himself."

"Why were you looking for Church?" Sora asks.

"He was my ticket out of jail. I deliver him in exchange for a clear slate and a one way ticket out of there." Washington explains.

"So you go through all the trouble of rescuing me, just to take me back?" Church asks him like he's an idiot.

"Essentially." Washington responds.

"Anyway, I can get her out." Church says.

"What... no." Washington says.

"Its my only option."

"I need you, Epsilon. Your my only ticket out of this mess. If you het stuck in there, they'll never believe me. I'm not going back to prison."

"I can do it."

"No, I won't let you."

"Church, I think you should wait for the others to return before jumping in." Sora says.

"No." Church simply replies.

"But you could never come back." Sora argues.

"Don't act like your not doing the same thing!" Church snaps.

"What?" Both Sora and Washington question.

"When you were at the facility, Shelia downloaded the logs of your phone or something. I know why your here. I know your looking for the someone special to you. And I know there is a possibility you can't go back." Church says.

"Epsilon, your not making sense." Washington tells him.

"Sora, here, is from another dimension. He came here in search of his girlfriend after she was killed, or something like that." Church explains.

"What? Thats ridiculous." Washington denies. Sora sighs.

"No. He's right. I came from a different dimension to look for Kairi." He admits.

"And either way, you both can't stop me." Church says. I have to help her. She's here because of us."

"Because of me?" Washington questions.

"Not you. Us." Church corrects. "Me and Alpha. And the Director."

"You've started to remember." Washington mutters.

"Along with the logs I found some journals from the director. She's someone from his life. Someone he loved." Church explains.

"Alison. He name is Alison." Washington tells him.

"Alison... When they made Alpha, she came back. She was a byproduct of the process." Church says.

"She's just a shadow."

"Don't call her that! She died in her real life and thats all the director ever remembered of her." Church explains. Sora could see some similarity's in the story. Tex is to Church what Kairi is to him. He also thought how they described Texas was similar to a Nobody. "So, no matter how tough she is. No matter how hard she fights, she's always going to fail because thats what shes based on. No matter what shes doing. Or whats shes trying to accomplish, just when her goal is within reach it gets yanked away. Every. Single. Time. Can you imagine what thats like?"

Just then the capture unit started growling and it rose from the snow to reveal it was attached to the back of a big white soldier, who's armour looked completely different from the people he's seen before. Most notably was the golden dome for his helmet.

"I think I'm getting the idea." Washington says.

Then a squad of heartless appear around the group, consisting of neo shadows, ice cannons, blizzard plants, icy cubes, and snowy crystals.

"What the, how'd these guys find us from the desert?" Church asks

"You know what these things are?" Washington asks as he raises his gun in defence.

"Sora does. Basically, they're dangerous." Church explains. As Church finishes explaining, a possessor appears behind the Meta, and dives into him. Metas armour is changed to have some black highlights on the normally all white suit but the most notable feature is the heartless symbol now printed on his large visor.

"What the hell is going on?" Washington asks as he watches the Meta transform. The Meta then begins firing his grenade launcher at the group. "Handle the creatures, I'll keep the Meta busy." Washington orders.

"Right! Come on Church." Sora orders as he charges the heartless. He leaps into battle, Church aims for a single neoshadow with his sniper rifle and fires. Since this is Church, the only thing this can do is miss and draw its attention towards him.

"Fuck." Church curses before he fires again, missing... again. "Fuck." The neoshadow is getting closer as it "evades" another shot from Church. "Fuck." once the neoshadow has reached Church, he changes tactics and beats the neoshadow using his sniper rifle as a club. "Thats still a sniper kill." He announces upon defeating it. His victory is short lived as he is blasted away from the action by a stray grenade shot from the Meta.

Meanwhile, Washington is fending off the heartless infected Meta, parrying its blade with his combat knife. It then turns invisible and rolls out from under him. Wash turns around to see the cloaked Meta heading towards him and throws his knife at it. It hits, though not doing much damage. Once the Meta shorty recovers, Wash draws his rifle while Meta prepares his grenade launcher. They both fire at each other, and Wash is knocked out of the fight.

"Washington!" Sora exclaims, and runs over to defend the freelancer.

"Come on, men!" Sarge exclaims from far off. "We can't let Sora have all the ass kickin."

Grif doesn't like the idea of going up against the Meta and gets an idea. "I have a better idea, why not fend off the heartless while Sora deals with him." He points to the various neo shadows and blizzard plants still alive.

"Excellent idea Grif! ...wait what?" Sarge says confused.

"Well, alright. Lets go. The heartless aren't going to wait." Tucker says. The group acknowledges this and heads into the battle except for Caboose who was ordered to stay with the purple soldier and watch Church.

As Sora reaches the Meta he begins slashing at it with his keyblade, thought it blocks them with its weird looking grenade launcher. The Meta sees an opening and punches Sora away. It then charges at him, so Sora activates his second form and begins attacking it faster, scoring a few hits. This only seems to upset the Meta as he grabs the keyblade and throws it, along with Sora, away. Sora easily recovers from this and begins firing some firaga at it. The Meta uses his grenade launcher as a shield to block the spells coming to him.

Sora sees this and gets an idea. He simply casts thunder and due to the spell hitting from above its target, Meta is successfully hit. He does this a few times until it starts blocking upright. Sora then casts blizzara on its exposed feet to keep it from charging him before hitting him with one final firaga.

The Meta falls to the ground and darkness surrounds him as he lays there. He looks over to see the reds and Tucker finishing up the remaining heartless he missed. While he is watching, the Meta, now clear of its heartless insignias, gets up and loads a few new rounds into his brute shot. He then takes Sora distraction as an opportunity and blasts him away.

The reds and Tucker were pretty much done at that point and began to charge him.

"Attack!"

"Get him!"

"We're gonna fuckin die!" Can be heard from the group as they charge. The Meta then remembers it regain something that he should have used during his fight with Sora. His enhancements. It activates its bubble shield, deflecting the bullets, rockets, and grenades thrown to it by the group. Once the onslaught is over, it leaps into the air while firing a torrent of grenades aimed at Grif and Tucker. They roll away from the blast radius before Simmons shouts.

"Fire in the hole!" Before launching a rocket at the Meta. Unfortunately, he dodges and stabs the ground near Simmons, knocking him away. Tucker then takes this opportunity to draw his energy sword and try to sword fight with him. He is knocked away on his second attempt. The Meta then turns around to block a shot from Sarge before Grif jumps on him.

"Get him!" He yells atop Meta. "This guys like a bear." He grunts before he is thrown off. Though as he is thrown off, Grif takes his brute shot. Meta then attacks Sarge with a few rapid punches before throwing him into Grif and Simmons. Tucker then runs up and successfully stabs Meta. It then punches Tucker down before his sword falls from its chest. Meta is then hit from a shot gun shell fired from Sarge.

"Come here ya big son of a bitch." Sarge yells at him. He fires another shot and the Meta just tanks it, walking slowly up to him. Then another, then another, then another, until it is close enough to bat away the shotgun and grab Sarge by the neck.

"Whats he doing?" Grif asks Simmons.

"Looks like he's killing himself." Simmons says as Sora joins them.

"Oh no. Sarge, get out of there!" He yells, but it is no use.

"Hey Grif, I lost my shotgun. What am I going to do with out my shotgun? Shotgun Damnit!" Sarge exclaims.

"Shotgun?" Grif asks himself "Come on Sora, Simmons." Grif says before pushing on the nearby damaged warthog.

"What are we doing?" Sora asks as he and Simmons join in. Grif simply points to the tow hook of the warthog, feeling to lazy to explain. He points in the tow hooks current location which just so happened to be Sarge currently placing it on the Meta.

"Hey Meta. Settle a bet would ya? Does that thing kinda look like a big cat to you?" Sarge motions towards the warthog the three are pushing on to the nearby cliff. The Meta then takes notice of the tow hook on its chest. But by that time it is too late. The warthog is off the edge, causing it to drop Sarge and the capture unit as it slides down.

"Grif, look out!" Sora exclaims as he tackles Grif away from Meta, attempting to hold onto something to help it stay out of the freezing ocean. Times up for the Meta though as it falls to its death.

"Woah thanks." Grif tells Sora, who nods him off.

"Oh wait, Church!" Sora exclaims before running off to check on him.

"Yeah, I dunno. Its in really bad shape. So are you." The purple soldier says to Church as Sora

"Theres not much time. I need you to use it on me." Church tells him.

...

"I can't Church." Caboose tells him after Church asks Caboose to use the capture unti.

"Yes you can. You do this all the time." Church tells him.

"Yeah I don't want to." Caboose says.

"Yeah, okay. Okay Caboose, I'm sure I can do it on my own." Church says.

"...But what if you don't come out again?" Caboose asks. "I won't let you Church." Sora then puts his hand on Cabooses shoulder.

"His heart and his mind are made up." Sora recites what Riku told Mickey before he left. "He need to do this." He tells Caboose.

"Yeah. And if I don't come out again. You remember what Delta said." Church says.

"Memory is the key." Caboose tells him.

"Memory is the key. If I don't come out then your in charge of remembering me." Church tells him. "Don't let Tucker help, he'll just fuck it up. Goodbye buddy." Church leaves his body and enters the capture unit.

"Whats going on here?" Sarge asks as he and Simmons approaches.

"Church went in. He's going to find her." Caboose answers.

"That unit looks bad. Let me see what I can do to stabilize it." Simmons says before taking a closer look at the memory unit.

"Doc. Go check on Wash. I'm not sure he's gonna make it." Sarge orders the Purple one who complies.

"Oh no!" Simmons exclaims.

"What! What!" Caboose asks frantically.

"Its only going to be open for a few more seconds, after that he'll be trapped." Simmons explains.

"Come on Church, you can do it." Caboose encourages. "Run towards my voice!"

"Its shutting down! I can't stop it!" Simmons exclaims. Then the red glow the capture unit once adorns fades away.

"Church? Are you there?" Caboose asks.

"I'm sorry Caboose." Simmons replies.

"Church?" Caboose asks again.

"Oh, sorry Caboose." Sora tells him.

"No... It- its fine. After all he isn't dead. I'm sure I'll see him again. I always do." Caboose quietly replies to him.

"Yeah." Sora slightly smiles at him. "That reminds me, I have my own person I need to see again. I should probably get back to looking for her."

"Oh, I've contacted the UNSC to get here. You could wait till they get here and I'm sure they could drop you off where you need to go." Simmons offers.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine on my own." Sora says. "Tell Sarge and the others where I went so they don't worry."

"Sora... will I see you again?" Caboose asks.

"Of coarse Caboose. I promise." Sora says.

"Oh, before you go, I have a present for you." Caboose says as he takes out what looked to be a keychain shaped like their helmets with one side being red and another being blue. It looked compatible with a keyblade to change its form.

"Thank you Caboose." With that Sora walks away until he is out of sight. He then pulls out Kingdom Key and creates another portal. "Alright. Now to find Kairi." He says to himself before walking through.


	3. Dying of the Light

After heading through the portal, Sora finds himself surrounded by thousands upon thousands of blue flowers. Among those flowers, he sees multiple statues of what looked like robots.

"Whoa. Where'd I end up now?" Sora asks himself. He looks down to his hands to find them made of metal. "Huh? How does the magic still work when Donald isn't even here?" He asks himself again. Sora looks around until he eventually finds a pond of water. He looks in to see his reflection, and his entire body looks like the robot statues.

(He's basically Hot Rod but with Sora's color scheme, Sora's head, and his crown necklace is printed on where Hot Rod's flames would be.)

"So is that how I blend in?" Sora asks himself. He looks around to find no one there. Just flowers and statues and grass. For being a robot, he expected the world to look more mechanical. He eventually finds what looks like a mechanical looking castle and heads inside.

Inside he finds many computers and machines lining the interior. Even though he wasn't good with computery stuff, Sora thinks it might be best to learn about the world he was just dropped in. He powers on the computer and the first thing hat comes up is a selection between two different options. Spark scan, and archives. Sora choses the archives and is presented with a few more options. Those being; Character files, spark study, guilt detection, and spark flowers to name a few. He didn't even know where to start.

Before he decide on a course of action, a loud boom rings from outside followed by the sound of people entering the building he was currently in. Sora investigates and finds more robots like himself standing in the door way. There were about sixteen of them and they all varied in shape, size, and colors and some looked to be injured. A light blue one that looked to be female was investigating something on the ground when he came in.

"I don't know whether he was shot to death or weather the raw energon in all those spark flowers fried his circuits." She said as she looked at the object on the ground. It is then that two of the group notice Sora presence. One of them was dark blue with red accents while the other had a blue and yellow color scheme.

"Who are you?" The dark blue one asks cautiously.

"I'm Sora." He responds.

"...okay, what are you doing here?" he asks.

"I uh... I don't know. I'm kinda lost." Sora responds.

"Where did you come from?" A red and yellow Robot asks, this one looks like him.

"Uh far away." Sora responds. "I was looking for someone, then ended up here."

"Sorry if we're in a rush. I'm Skids." The dark blue robot holds out his hand towards Sora, in which he shakes.

"Whats going on?" Sora asks, as members of Skids crew fan out across the castle.

"We're not really sure ourselves." Skids explains as he and Sora walk back into the room he was in, with the blue and yellow robot, a small black and grey robot, and a light blue robot with wings coming out of his shoulders. "We came here in response to a cerebral attack on some of our crew when our ship was shot down."

"What were you doing in here? Did you meet with Censerre?" The blue and yellow robot asks.

"I came in here because it was the only building I could find here." Sora explains. "A lot of statues though. Also, I didn't meet with anyone since I got here."

"Your friend had access to all kinds of weird crap." The light blue one with wings interrupts.

"Including psychic weaponry?" Skids asks.

"Kind of. Some of this equipment uses elements of Aequitech. Y-know, guilt detection and stuff."

"Sorry, guys do you mind talking over there?" The small black one asks. "Rodimus wants me to phone home." As the yellow and blue one talks with Skids, the light blue one finally takes notice of Sora's presence.

"Wha? Am I seeing things or are you a black and grey with red accents Rodimus?" he asks.

"Uh no. I'm Sora, and I've been standing here for awhile." Sora deadpans.

"Oh sorry, I was just to focused on observing the necrobot's equipment here. I'm Brainstorm. The anti-social one is Nightbeat, and the tiny one is Rewind." Brainstorm briefly introduces.

"Rodimus? We have contact!" Rewind shouts, causing the whole group to conjugate into the room as one of the larger computer screens comes to life.

"Blaster?" The red and yellow one, presumably Rodimus, asks the screen.

"Loud and clear Rodimus." The person on the screen says, though the group still can't see him.

"Is that you? You sound different. Can you see us?" Rodimus asks.

"Give me a moment to filter the signal and... there we go." The person on screen is a white and blue robot with red accents.

"Getaway!" Rodimus exclaims.

"So you've not forgotten about me then." Getaway replies. Sora then picks up on a negative atmosphere among the group. It probably has something to do with this Getaway, he thinks.

"Hows the journey into mystery? Say hello to the necrobot for me." Getaway continues.

"Look, I don't know how you got out of your cell, but we need a pickup, now." Rodimus demands. "Look if your worried about us locking you up again, fine, we can discuss it after we get back."

"You think I'm worried about being locked up?" Getaway asks.

"Of coarse not. Your unimprisionable. No cell can contain you. We lock you up, you escape, we get it!" Rodimus exclaims.

"Do you? Do you really? You removed my hands Rodimus, and my feet. You took away my t-cog, you sawed off my mouth. You put my spark in a trembler cage so sensitive I couldn't shift my weight without risking electrocution. Escape? I didn't escape. Theres no way I could have escaped. No one could have escaped. I was released. And do you know who let me out? Everyone." Getaway steps away to reveal more robots behind him, presumably Rodimus's crew.

'So from what I gather here, this Getaway did something really bad to get locked up. Then Rodimus's crew let him out. Why though.' Sora recaps in his own head.

"Whats going on." A slightly larger grey robot says as he walks up Rodimus.

"Mutiny, thats what." Rodimus responds.

"Welcome to the new war captains. All of you versus all of us, and I hereby declare us the winners." Getaway boasts. It is at this time Sora takes the opportunity to get some answers. He looks to his right to find a small white and blue robot standing beside him. He actually looked kinda cute. He decided to ask him.

"Um excuse me, I'm sorta confused to whats going on." Sora whispers to him.

"Right, sorry. Sometimes I forget theres newcomers. I'm Tailgate." Tailgate introduces.

"Sora." Sora shakes his hand. "Now whats going on?"

"Well to make a long story short, we are on a quest to find the knights of Cybertron. A year or so ago we board our ship, the Lost Light, with 200 other crew members to go searching for them. I'll spare you on some of the details on some of the crazy and very confusing adventures we've been through. But not to long ago, Getaway tried to trick me into uploading a nonexistant anti-villain virus into our co-captain, Megatron. It was really mean't to get Megatron really upset and kill me. If it weren't for Cyclonus, it would've worked. After that, he was locked up. And according to what they're saying now, its because of Megatron that they're mutineering us." Tailgate explains. Sora looks back to the screen and starts paying attention.

"By helping that maniac find peace, your excusing his past behaviour. And so it falls to us, the 99% to remind you how wrong this is." Getaway says. "Forgiveness, Rehabilitation, Reintegration? No. Not him. Not now. Not ever."

'So they're angry because this Megatron did something really bad. But what could be so bad to cause you to betray your friends?' Sora mentally asks himself.

"Oi! Whats this guilty by association? I've never taken Megatron's side! I've never talked to you about Megatron!" A short white and red bot yells at Getaway.

"Yeah you have. You all have, at one time or another, you just don't remember it." Getaway explains. "After Megatron's trial, Atomizer and I spoke to everyone on board. Two questions: do you think he deserves a second chance? and What would you do if someone staged a coup? If you weren't prepared to stand with us when the time came then Bang! A quick blast from the nudge gun and your memory of our conversation was quietly removed. No harm done. No side effects, just a headache."

"You bastard!" Skids yells.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Rodimus agrees.

"Ah but y'see, my problems not just with Megatron. Its with you." Getaway states.

"Me?" Rodimus asks.

"Your a bad Captain. I realized that the moment I saw your ridiculous rodpod." Getaway explains. Getaway kept going on about, how Rodimus was a bad captain and then started monologuing about his first plan to remove him from the captains chair. He then finishs of by telling them they have visitors.

"Getaway, please. For their sake, not mine." The grey bot begs.

"GETAWAY!" Rodimus screams at the screen. The transmission ends, causing Rodimus to punch the communication console. Then a black cat robot walks into the room, smoking as if he'd just run through an inferno.

"Megatron..." The cat calls as he walks to the grey robot, presumably Megatron.

"They're here aren't they?" Megatron asks.

"Not just them... hundreds." The cat continues

"What? Who's here?" Sora asks.

"The Decepticon Justice Division. My executioners." Megatron answers. "I think this is it. I think this is how it ends."

"This can't be it! We can do something!" Sora exclaims.

"New guys right! We gonna do something or sit here and get killed?" A skinny light blue robot with only one eye exclaims.

"You'd prefer to sit out there and get killed?" Night beat asks.

"Indoors gets my vote." Brainstorm throws his two cents in.

"Can't beat a good ceiling." The short white and red bot from earlier adds.

"We're being pummeled! How many of them are there?" A damaged purple bot asks.

"Bear with me. Activating vidcams." Rewind messes with an undamaged control console. The video feed that shows up is multiple intimidating robots, usually with a dark colour mixed with purple as their colour scheme, blasting away at the fortress until suddenly they just stop.

"They've stopped! They're leaving!" Tailgate exclaims.

"Maybe they heard you were inside, eh slugger?" Brainstorm jokes.

"I'm serious, maybe this fortress was too much for them." Tailgate continues.

"I'm afraid not." Megatron says. "Tarn is following the script: a show of power then a show of restraint because power plus restaint equals control."

"So he tells us he's in charge - and then what? The he leaves?" Rodimus asks.

"No. Then he promises to come back." Megatron says as the ground on the video screen is scorched to read "sunset"

"Just so you know, right here, right now has reached the top of my situations never to be in list." The short white and red one panics.

"I feel stupid for asking this but, who are the DJD?" Sora asks him.

"Who are the DJD? Have you beens asleep for four million years! The DJD are a group of Decepticons that go around hacking, slashing, melting, shedding, electrocuting, torturing, and killing Decepticons that fall out of line! But don't worry, they just like slaughtering Autobots too!" He exclaims. He then takes notice of who he's talking to. "Oh, your the guy that showed up out of nowhere. Names Swerve."

"Sora." Sora shakes his hand. "Sorry for upsetting you."

"No need. You come from one of the colonies right? I guess you can be forgiven for not hearing about our four million year war." Swerve says.

"Uh yes. I'm from one of the colonies. And did you say four million year war!?" Sora exclaims.

"Yeah. It was bad. I heard that some other species was going at it for sixteen million years, so I guess its not so bad compared to that." Swerve says. "So since your here. Does that mean you have some magic device that will help us escape or fight those guys off?" he asks.

"Well... all I have is this." Sora summons his keyblade.

"Thats a weird battle axe. Kinda looks looks a human key." Swerve says.

"Thats because its a keyblade." Sora explains.

"Hey Swerve! Something weirds happening to the necrobot!" Someone calls.

"Uh, gotta go. Night beat there will go with you to find something to keep us from dying." Swerve says before taking off. Sora turns around to find Night beat standing right behind him, eyes on the keyblade.

"Ummm..." Sora starts.

"That doesn't look like subspace teleportation." Night beat begins. "What is that?"

"Its a keyblade. An uh... It stays super small, and when I need it it grows to this size." Sora lies.

"Oh, so mass displacement. And the light?" Night beat asks.

"Oh, uh... I put that in to uh... confuse my enemy when its summoned." Sora explains. Night beat seemed to by this.

"What do you mean your enemy?" Night beat asks.

"Oh... uh... on my colony, there are these creatures that are a danger to everyone. I'm sort of an exterminator for them." Sora tells the half truth.

"Oh, alright then. So what was your colony li-" Night beat is cut off as he seems frozen. Staring at what looked like some sort of weird booth.

"Uh, Night beat? Are you okay?" Sora asks.

"We gotta go find Rodimus! Or Megatron! Or Magnus! This is great news!" He exclaims before dragging Sora along to find one of his superior officers.

Night beat and Sora find Rodimus looking over some tablets with a skinny orange bot and the large blue, red and white bot.

"Okay so bad news, is that we're comprehensively weaponless, our defences amount to a giant umbrella, and the only transport in this paper thin "fortress" is a space scooter so unconvincing it needs the words space scooter painted on it." Rodimus tells them.

"Whats the good news?" The big one asks.

"Who said anything about good news?" Rodimus asks.

"We've got some good news." Night beat brings up. "We've got news so good you'll want to settle down with it. We've got news so good you'll want to introduce it to your friends."

"I'm assuming that makes sense to other people." The big one says.

"You'd be wrong then." Sora says.

"Guess what this is." Night beat points the group towards the door.

"A booth. A stasis pod. A door." Rewind guesses.

"A door! And not just any door, this is the only door you'll ever need!" Night beat exclaims. "Quantum tech. Its how the necrobot got around. He used a teleport chamber to get from here to anywhere. Right now its running low on quantum energy, but its carrying just enough charge to take us to the nearest astroid. We can send a message to cybertron, tell them where we're going and get picked up in a few weeks time."

"So we just step inside the chamber and "vomf!"" Brainstorm asks as he inspects the chamber.

"I make no guarantees as to the sound." Night beat says.

"Alright then! Form an orderly queue. Ex Decepticons at the back ex matrix bearers at the front." I take it we're all here?" Rodimus announces.

"No-" Someone says. Sora turns to find the damaged purple bot from earlier along with the light blue bot whose name he hadn't received yet. "Not by a long shot."

"We found something." The light blue one continues.

"Better than Night beats door?" Rodimus asks.

"Bodies, Rodimus. Dozens of them. Fifty, sixty at least." purple bot says

"Alive but locked inside life support pods. They appear to be in a kind of chemically induced coma. Least I think so." The light blue one says.

"You "think" so?" Rodimus asks.

"I haven't carried out a through check. I was worried I'd disturb them. In any case, I don't have experience of dealing with organic life forms." Light blue explains.

"Wait! Stop the car, everyone out. Organic life forms? These guys aren't even Cybertronian?" The one eyed skinny one exclaims.

"No, but they're alive and they're vulnerable. And their life support pods won't fit through Night beats door." purple explains.

"The DJD hate organics. They learned that from him." Skids points towards Megatron. This gets Sora wondering about Megatron's past "If we leave them behind we're dead."

"If we stay behind, we're all dead." a white and brownish bot with large wheels on his shoulders says.

"Why was the necrobot keeping fleshlings in the basement?" A different purple bot, with horns on his head, asks.

"Does it matter?" Tailgate asks.

"I suppose not." He replies.

"But you can't help but wonder why." Sora says.

"I guess thats also true." Tailgate agrees. "Also, Sora, this is Cyclonus. Cyclonus, Sora is from a cybertronian colony."

"Nice to meet you." Sora shakes Cyclonuses hand.

"Likewise." Cyclonus says.

"Look some people might say- I'm gonna put this gently on the table." Brainstorm builds up. "Some people might say that the (one, two, three, four...) seventeen of us could do a lot of good if we lived to fight another day. Barring Sora, in the last six months we've done some great things! All those worlds! All those people we helped!" Sora smiles. This crew kinda reminded him of himself and his friends, going across worlds to help others with their problems reguarding the heartless and organization. "Okay so practically all of the people we helped were mechs-But- if we make it out of this alive, and thanks to Night beat we can, we can absolutely make saving organics our number one priority. There are sixty fleshlings downstairs. The next planet we save? Sixty million. I'm just saying: maths."

"But we can't just leave them to die, and make the excuse that we're off to save others and they just got the short end of the stick." Sora argues.

"I see what your saying, but if we stay here, we're likely going to die and the DJD will kill the organics anyway. Why not live to save any others that might be in trouble. It comes with the added bonus of not dying too." Brainstorm says.

"Enough!" Rodimus shouts. "I think what these two are saying is that we face a choice. I never thought I'd say this, but... lets not rush. Lets explore this from all angles. Lets have a proper debate and work slowly towards a collective decision." Every thinks this is a good idea until...

"I'm staying." Megatron declares.

"Ten." A yellowish bot painted with flowers says as he tries to hand Rodimus some flowers.

"Not now!" Rodimus yells at him. What could he have mean't Sora thought, towards the bots odd behaviour.

"Your staying? Your staying to protect the organics? You?" Rodimus asks.

"You have every right to be surprised." Megatron says. 'Did Megatron used to be a "bad guy"' Sora thinks. It would explain some things.

"You'll die." Rodimus brings up.

"I expect so."

"Of this is some kind of gesture..."

"I'm not trying to set an example, if thats what you mean. I've made my choice Rodimus, your free to make yours." Megatron says. "Your all free to make yours. Anyone who wishes to leave should leave. No questions need be asked. No reasons given. The same if you want to stay. You don't have to justify your actions, or explain your motives, or invite others to scrutinize your conscience. Either you stay or you go. You don't need anyones permission. You don't need anyones blessing. Make whatever decision you wish to make, but make it for yourself. Let me assure you, there is nothing in this room but understanding."

"Well said." Rodimus says. Sora couldn't agree more. "If anyone wishes to leave for whatever reason, please raise your hand. Your hand or your paw." No one moves. "Then its settled. The door closes, and we're staying."

"Maybe not!" Swerve brings up. He then proceeds to tell everyone about his plan to steal the DJDs ship and use it to escape with the pods. The cat, whose name is Ravage, heads off to find the ship. Megatron and the yellowish bot disappear for awhile as Sora goes off with Swerve to continue looking for anything useful in the fortress. Maybe he can get some background information from him.

"Sorry if I'm intruding, I just have a few questions on my mind." Sora says to Swerve as explore more of the fortress.

"Oh its fine. A little while ago, I was in the recap business so I'm used to it." Swerve tells him. "So what do you need to know about the four million years you missed?"

"From the way everyone was talking back there, it seemed like Megatron did something bad in his past. What did he do?" Sora asks.

"Oh you know, nothing to bad. Just creating the Decepticons, and by extension, the very people trying to kill us. Initiating a war that killed millions of our kind and wiping out innocent alien species in the process." Swerve says sarcastically.

"Why would he do that." Sora said. Suddenly he felt all the anger towards Megatron had been justified.

"It was for cybertronian equality or somethin like that. Back in the day, cybertron had this system where your alt-mode determined your job." Swerve explains.

"Alt-mode?" Sora questions.

"Yeah, you know, vehicle mode." Swerve transforms to demonstrate. "Everyone has at least one. Except for the triple m."

"Yeah, right." Sora acknowledges.

"There were the higher classes like the microscopes that were apart of the scientific class. They got paid the highest grade energon and were liven it up. Then there were some like Megatron who were apart of the working class. They were generally the ones who got their hands dirty and did most of the labour work, but they received cheap energon for their efforts. The big problem was you couldn't change your job, so Megatron wanted to change that. I don't really know the specififcs, but from what I here, he gained a following from his side job of being a gladiator and amassed the Decepticons!" Swerve explains.

"His means sound well, but how did he go from that to the warmonger you described him as?" Sora asks.

"Beats me. All I know is if he switches sides, that does jack shit to make up for all he's done." Swerve says bitterly. Sora then thinks back that in some way this was familiar to him. Lea switched sides before the keyblade war and even after all he done, everyone still gave him a second chance. Sora felt Megatron should deserve the same treatment.

"Yeah, it does. But should it mean something that he's trying to make up for it?" Sora asks.

"It should, but with everything he's done it doesn't." Swerve replies.

"But he still feels bad for what he's done, right? He swore off doing the bad things that he's done right? He can't erase the past so he's trying to make up for it." Sora defends.

"Oh, don't tell me he has your sympathies." Swerve angrily replies. "He doesn't deserve any sympathy. Hell, he should have just been executed on Luna 2 like he was supposed to. But now he's our co-captain. He doesn't even deserve to be given the most unpleasant job to ever exist and be forced to do it with no pay. Actually, now that I think about it, thats all he deserves. Why are you defending him anyway? You just met him."

"I have a friend who once was one of the "bad guys". I don't know what exactly he did but it wasn't good. I only know that once he kidnaped one of my best friends. And that did not sit well with me. After awhile, he decided he wasn't going to be that person anymore and switched to my side. Now he's one of my friends." Sora explains Lea's story while being carful not to mention they were from a different reality.

"That could change anytime. This "friend" could turn back whenever he so chooses." Swerve says.

"Not really. He helped end the organization he left. As in nothing left. He couldn't go back and he has no reason to. And even if he could go back I trust that he would stay by my side." Sora says. Swerve thinks for a minute.

"Well... maybe I have been a little hard on Megatron ever since he joined us. I guess the least I could do is give him a chance." Swerve admits.

"I think he'd appreciate that." Sora says.

"So, you meet the rest of Crusadercons yet?" Swerve asks.

"Is that what your crew is called?" Sora asks.

"Its what I call us. Rodimus objected to the name. Said that since it had con in the end it would sound like we are Decepticons."

"Oh. To answer your question, I've only meet Skids, Night beat, Brainstorm, Rewind, Tailgate and Cyclonus. I've seen Rodimus and Megatron, though haven't really talked to them. Night beat also mentioned someone called Magnus." Sora says.

"Oh, Ultra Magnus is just our third in command. Always has a stick up his ass and will not hesitate to hand out punishment if you so much as make a spelling mistake." Swerve says. "Now that you know Mags., let me sort of introduce you to the rest of our crew."

"Okay, so who's first?" Sora asks.

"Well, as much as I would to introduce you with the universal handshake and everything, everyone is kinda busy with the fortification effort. So I'll just do my best to tell you about em!" Swerve explains. "Okay... so where to start? The light blue fem-bot is Velocity. She's the poor mans poor mans Ratchet, in that she's our third head doctor. And I don't mean shes a bad doctor. Sh's really good at her job."

"Yeah, I think I saw her when you guys first came in." Sora says.

"Yeah, the purple fem-bot thats almost always close by to her is Nautica. We don't really talk much. She's a certified quantum mechanic. She likes books and poetry and those kinds of boring things. The bot with the dull, yet some how eye catching, colour scheme is Chromedome. He's a memnosurgeon, which basically means he can fuck around with others memories." Swerve explains. Sora didn't know why but he felt a sense of deja vu when it came to messing with memories, but he couldn't tell why. "Don't worry, he doesn't do it as often and he doesn't do it immorally."

"I think I saw those two during the door conversation." Sora says.

"Yeah. Night beats door. Just cause he found it doesn't mean its now gonna be named after him." Swerve quietly says to himself. "Anyway, theres also the one eyed freak, killcopter."

"Is that really his name?" Sora asks.

"Nah, he's Whirl and he's actually pretty cool. Not as cool as my other friends but he's alright, even if almost everyone else on the ship doesn't like him." Swerve explains.

"Why is that?" Sora asks.

"He's kinda messed in the head. Inconsistent personality, but he's mostly pretty violent." Swerve says. "But enough about him. Let's see... we got so many its hard to keep track."

"Is he apart of your crew." Sora points to a picture drawn on the floor of an unfamiliar face.

"He was- He was Trailbreaker. Uh, I mean Trailcutter, I'm a partial G1r, fight me." Swerve says.

"What?" Sora asks.

"That is Trailcutter and he's... gone. The DJD got to him awhile back. Now that I think about it, why is his face on the floor?" Swerve questions. "Kinda disrespectful to the dead in a way."

"Ten painted it there." A skinny orange bot tells them. "He was trying to tell Rodimus that we can use the spark flowers to power the storm shield to make a forcefield."

"Right, say, Rung, where is Ten anyway?" Swerve asks.

"I'm not sure. Now if you'll excuse me, Rewind needs my assistance." Rung says before walking into a different room.

"Who's that?" Sora asks.

"Ten was my bouncer on the Lost Light. He's the big, lumbering, yellowish one. Can only say his name like a pokemon. Got a pretty good artistic side." Swerve explains.

"Oh. I actually mean't the orange guy." Sora clarifies.

"Oh, Rung? Yeah he's kinda forgettable. He's a really sweet guy. Easy to make a friend outta. Always doing his best to help others with their problems. Kinda makes you wonder what makes him so forgettable then." Swerve explains.

"He sounds like a really good guy." Sora comments.

"And I think thats all of us besides the cat." Swerve says.

"Cat?" Sora questions.

"Ravage. Ex-Decepticon saboteur. Likes sneaking around in the dark. Megatron's the only one who really trusts him. Ravage is kinda unnerving. I dunno where his real loyalties lie." Swerve explains.

"Oh. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about everyone." Sora thanks.

"No problem. I like talken about stuff. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go find Ten." Swerve excuses himself.

After awhile of Sora aimlessly wandering the fortress, not really looking for anything in particular, Sora finds himself in the main room where he finds Ultra Magnus helping an injured Ten.

"What happened?" Sora asks.

"Ten tried to help Ravage with his stealth mission, but he was found." Magnus explains.

"Ten." Ten weakly says. Swerve then comes up and starts talking to Ten.

"I've never been so pleased to see a doctor. But why are you here?" Skids asks a white and orange bot that wasn't previously with the group

"We traced a call. Someone rang me and hung up." The new bot explains.

"Sorry, the DJD blocked the signal before I could speak." Velocity explains.

"How'd you get my number?"

"I thought it was First Aid's number. He told me to call if I ever needed help. He gave me this."Sora Velocity holds up the phone First Aid gave her.

"Which I gave to him."

"Wait, your Ratchet? The sourpuss? The slavedriver? The hand thief who took a thousand years to retire? You're him?" Velocity asks. "I hope not, otherwise I've made really a bad first impression."

"Her names Velocity. She's a doctor." Skids clarifies.

"So you didn't miss me that much then." Ratchet grumbles. "I see you also got some more new members." Ratchet looks to Sora.

"I'm Sora." Sora greets.

"Ratchet." Ratchet replies. "Now you might wanna introduce some more people to my accomplice. He's been gone a lot longer than I have." Ratchet says to Skids.

"Right, where is Drift anyway?" Skids asks.

"I think he's talking with Rodimus." Magnus calls out. "A little help here."

"Right, Ten!" Velocity exclaims before she and Ratchet rush off to help.

"Who's Drift?" Sora asks.

"He was another of our crew until he was kicked off for smuggling Overlord aboard." Skids explains.

"Overlord?" Sora asks.

"A Decepticon. A powerful one at that. Anyway, after we got rid of Overlord he confessed and was kicked off the ship. A little while later, Rodimus confessed he was actually the one who brought Overlord aboard. It had something to do with Prowl trying to find away to make autobot phase sixers or something. I think Rodimus is apologizing for kicking him off the ship." Skids explains.

Just then, Rodimus and a white and red bot, presumably Drift, come out of a dark room.

"We're good. Don't worry." Rodimus assures.

"Everything's worked out." Drift adds. He then takes notice of Sora. "You have a unique aura." He says to him.

"Um. Thank you." Sora replies.

"Sorry, where are my manners. I am Drift." Drift introduces.

"I'm Sora." Sora

"You have quite a unique name." Drift complainants.

"Don't mind him. He just a very spiritual kind of guy." Skids tells Sora.

"Thanks. You have a nice name to." Sora says. Just then everyone hears a slow, but loud, banging on the door. Ratchet comes into the room as Drift takes his swords out.

"I look forward to talking with you later." Drift says before he slowly approaches the door. Rodimus quickly flings it open, only to find Megatron barely alive and bleeding out on the nonexistent welcome mat. Sora can only gasp at the look of the severity of the injuries.

"Quick! Help me het him to the medibay!" Ratchet yells as he picks up half of Megatron while Rodimus picks up his other half.

"I was wonder where he went." Skids says as Megatron is carried away. "Sunset isn't to far off. I hope the doctors can work fast. And I hope whatever Brainstorm is cooking up can help us get out of this."

Sora soon found himself sitting outside as the sun began to set, thinking about his mission. This is his second world and still no sign of Kairi. Coarse, he couldn't explore this world as throughly as the last one. Just then Sora is joined by Tailgate.

"Oh, Hi Tailgate." Sora greets.

"Hi Sora. Do you mind if I join you?" Tailgate asks.

"Not at all." Sora responds.

"Thank you. I normally do this with Cyclonus, but he's off helping Whirl with the defences. I already finished my part by getting materials." Tailgate says.

"You hang out with him a lot. Cyclonus, is he your best friend?" Sora asks.

"Pretty much. We spend so much time together that people would think we're conjunx endura." Tailgate says.

"Whats that?" Sora asks.

"Conjunx endura? Its basically the term for when two people are buddy buddy, you know? When they vow to spend the rest of their lives together." Tailgate explains. "Hell, Cyclonus gave me some of his innermost energon, just like couples do."

"Oh, I see." Sora says.

"Back home... on your planet... do you have a conjunx endura?" Tailgate asks. "You don't have to answer me if you don't want to."

"No its fine." Sora says as his mind drifts to the day before the second keyblade war. More specifically, the time at which he and Kairi shared the paopu fruit. "I guess... I kind do have a conjux endura. Her name is Kairi, and she's why I'm here."

"What do you mean?" Tailgate asks.

"Its complicated, but the short version is she's missing and I'm out to find her." Sora briefly explains. "9Before she... disappeared, we kind did something similar to that innermost energon thing you mentioned, only thing is we shared a star shaped... item called a paopu." Sora decides not to mention it was a fruit. Robots don't eat, right?

"Do you guys have conjux rituas?" Tailgate asks.

"Uh what?" Sora asks.

"Guess not. Conjux rituas, better described as the four acts, is basically a ritual between the two conjux endura to show their love for each other. First order of business is to go somewhere familiar, then the ritual can begin. The first act is the act of intimacy. Which is usually symbolized by physical contact. The second is the act of disclosure where the person initiating the acts tells the other something extremely personal about themselves. The third is the act of gift giving. The four is the most important (and the most dangerous) the fourth is where the other person comes in. It is where they need to do something for the other." Tailgate explains.

Sora doesn't really know how to respond, but he does think the four acts sound wonderful to perform with your loved one. (depending on who you ask). Luckily, or unluckily, before the atmosphere becomes awkward an explosion rocks the fortress.

"Oh, what now!" Tailgate exclaims.

"Lets go inside and see if anyone knows whats going on." Sora says before the two do just that.

"What was that? the fortress just wobbled." Nautica asks as Sora and Tailgate come in. Looks like everyone had the same idea.

"Sorry, I was testing the perimeter guns and... we have an itsy bitsy problem." Whirl says as he comes in the room.

"Define itsy bitsy." Nautica says, however Rodimus already has it figured out.

"We can't fire outwards. We can't friken fire outwards!" Rodimus softly exclaims.

"Turns out the storm shield works both ways." Drift explains. "Which means we can't fire on the DJD until they break through."

"At least it buys us more time." Tailgate exclaims, trying to be positive.

"Time to what? More sitting and waiting? Because the last few hours have been torture." Velocity says.

"Agreed." Chromedome says. After a beat, Cyclonus asks.

"You want to shut down the shield don't you?"

"I don't know. Part of me thinks... I don't know part of me thinks if we're gonna die, lets embrace it. They want us to be scared. Lets show em we're not." Rodimus responds. Before Sora can agree, Megatron steps in.

"Think about what your doing." He says.

"Megatron! Welcome back to the land of the living dead. We got you a present." Rodimus announces as Ten presents him with what looked like a space bazzoka but with out a handle. "Brainstorm made it out of the teleport chamber. Go on- see if it fits."

"Think about what your doing." Megatron continues.

"Er, rude. Aren't you going to-" Rodimus starts.

"The storm shield could keep the DJD at bay for days. You should savour every moment." Megatron continues.

"Whats all this "you"?" Swerve asks. "You should savour every moment. Wheres Megatron in all this? Are you making a run for it or something?"

"He's not running, he's fighting. Isn't he?" Rodimus asks.

"I don't fight. Not anymore. I told you that." Megatron says.

"You told me you'd renounced violence- and I was happy for you. I thought you and your conscience made a lovely couple. But guess what- there are five hundred Decepticons out there and when they start trying to kill us I can't afford to have you turning the other cheek."

"I'm not strong enough." Megatron argues.

"You're Megatron! You can make half of them go home just by scowling! Is it fools energon? Is that what this is about?" Rodimus asks.

"Its not that." Megatron says.

"Then what is it?" Rodimus asks.

"I suppose. I suppose I'm afraid." Megatron admits.

"Good! Me too!" Rodimus exclaims. "You think anyone here isn't scared? You think Cyclonus isn't scared? Or Skids? Or Nautica?"

"I can help in other ways. I said I'd stay behind to protect the organics, and I will. I'll coordinate your attack." Megatron says.

"Thats your contribution? I'll stay inside and help you die more efficiently? We need you by our side Megatron." Rodimus says.

"Your a good captain Rodimus. The better captain, but I can't go out there." Megatron turns around and walks away.

"But Megatron!" Sora shouts after him.

"Megatron! I'm ashamed of you!" Ravage shouts at him as he continues to walk away.

"Well, there we go then. The fight of our lives and Cybertron's greatest warrior has gone to under a table." Swerve says. "Things literally cannot get any worse."

"Where is Minimus? He had a poem he wanted to read out. Something about poppies." Velocity mentions.

"I stand corrected." Swerve adds.

"Sorry folks poetry nights cancelled. Something came up..." Brainstorm says before a much larger Ultra Magnus walks up behind him. "Something big! Allow me to introduce, Maximus Ambus!"

"Woah!" Is all Sora can says.

"Hell yeah woah!" Brainstorm agrees. "Sometimes my genius... its almost frightening."

"That is the mother of all upgrades. Whats the verdict Maximus!" Rodimus asks.

"Tasty." Is all Magnus/ Maximus/ Minimus/ whatever the hell his name is replies.

"Nightfall. No sign of Rung or Night beat." Skids says.

"What happend to them?" Sora asks.

"Night beat took Rung to investigate something. Said they would be back before sunset." Skids explains.

"They could be in trouble." Sora suggests.

"Are those... shush! Are those gunshots?" Nautica asks.

"What do we do? Wait for the shield to break or get out there and fight? Rodimus?" Skids asks.

"C'mere guys. Group hug." Is all Rodimus responds with. Everyone obliges. "Thanks for traveling with me." He softly says. "Ready?"

"Ow! Not so tight Tailgate! Its like hugging a car compacter." Ratchet says during the hug.

"Oh!" Velocity exclaims. "I have an idea!" Velocity then goes on to explain something about using a spark spasm to power everyone up. Needless to say, Sora had no clue what they were talking about. "Your not listening. What I'm saying is that Tailgate became an outlier after he suffered a spark spasm. Okay?"

"Velocity." Ratchet warns, though is ignored.

"But the spasm didn't just affect him. It affected those around him. Anyone caught directly in the energy wave got a similar boost."

"I like where this is heading." Rodimus comments.

"I don't. Tailgate didn't get new "powers" because he wished hard enough. His spark spasm was triggered by a uniquely traumatic episode." Ratchet explains

"I thought someone I loved had died." Tailgate affirms.

"Exactly. You didn't just have a bad day. You were taken by the brink." Ratchet says.

"Are you saying we should scare someone just to get powered up?" Sora asks.

"Even if it were possible it certainly isn't ethical." Nautica agrees. "How can deliberately someone ever be justified?"

"It can't. Not unless..." Skids starts.

"Unless what?" Nautica asks him.

"Unless the victim is a willing volunteer." Skids offers himself.

"Skids." Chomedome says.

"I'm hiding something from myself. Something I did or had done to me. Something terrible. You know what it is, twice now you've protected me, twice you've stopped me from remembering. I think its time don't you? I think its time I remembered." Skids turns around to show Chromedome his neck. "Come on needles. Third time unlucky."

Chromedome looks down. "Sorry. I don't do that anymore." Suddenly, some music begins playing.

"What the? Who put on the music?" Sora asks.

"Its coming from outside." Swerve says.

"Its Tarns signature tune. Its called the Empyrean Suite." Drift informs them.

"Is it getting hot in here?" Skids asks.

"Oh, Skids. Do you want to do this?" Chromedome asks.

"Yes. If its going to help us, yes of coarse." Skids confirms.

"Alright then! Gather round people! If this is going to work you all need to be up close." Chomedome says. Everyone huddles around Skids. "Not you Tailgate. You've already taken your magic medicine." Tailgate steps away. Chromedome then whispers somethings to Skids, to quiet for Sora to here. Then all of a sudden, Skids explodes with a blueish energy that wraps around everyone. After its over, he collapses to the floor.

"Ratchet, help him! Everyone else, lets go kick some ass." Rodimus orders. Everyone then takes their cue and runs outside just as the shield shuts down, guns ablazing. As Sora is running, he takes out the keychain given to him by Caboose and replaces his current one with that one. The keyblade changes, now having the handle of Tuckers sword with a curvy purple guard while the blade was one long energy sword blade with the teeth of the key being just a smaller version of the one sword blade. This was the keyblade named "Memory" . (Thanks to a guest for suggesting the name.)

Sora then leaps into the Decepticon horde, slashing the genericons alongside Drift felt a lot easier and faster than when fighting with the heartless or Nobodies, though that was probably because of the power boost.

"I'm sensing a mystical energy from your blade." Drift says as he halts a Decepticon's attack.

"The keyblade?" Sora asks as he cuts down another Decepticon.

"Yes. It is similar, yet different my sword. Does your blade hold some religious significance?" Drift asks as he cuts kills the previously mentioned Decepticon.

"I haven't really thought about it actually." Sora says before casting blizzara on a group of incoming Decepticons.

"And it can harness the elements. Definitely something you should look into." Drift says as he cuts down another Decepticon. "I could help you if you'd like. I consider myself quite connected to the spiritual and things of that matter."

"Thanks for the offer, but maybe another time." Sora says as he guards against another attack. Drift notices Rodimus is in trouble and fights over to him, leaving Sora in the sea of Decepticon soldiers. Sora takes the opportunity to utilize this keyblades form change, which converts this keyblade into two plasma pistols, much like his dual blasters. He jumps into the air and unleashes a torrent of plasma at the Decepticons.

With the Decepticons:

"Who is that?" Deathsaurus asks Tarn as he watches Sora decimate his men.

"I don't know. For all I care he is just an autobot with fancy gadgets at his disposal." Tarn replies.

"Some fancy gadgets, he's kicking their afts down there." Nickel comments.

"He's wiping out my men like they're nothing. I will go deal with him personally." Deathsaurus declares.

"Do as you wish, but I want you back up here to command when Megatron makes his entrance." Tarn says. With that, Deathsaurus transforms into his beast mode and flies directly to Sora.

Back with Sora:

They just kept on coming. Once Sora defeated one Decepticon, it was like ten would take his place. Needless to say, it was getting over crowded. Just as it seemed the Decepticons would get the upper hand on Sora, their comms flared to life. One had his turned up so high, Sora could here what was being said.

"All squads. Disengage from that autobot. He's mine." An unfamiliar voice commands. The Decepticons do as it commands and leave to fight the other autobots. Then a weird mechanical dragon... thing lands infront of Sora and turns into its robot mode.

"Tell me autobot, what might your name be." He asks.

"Its Sora. Who are you?" Sora asks hostilely.

"I am Deathsaurus. Leader of the army you see before you. You see, unlike most Decepticons, I care for my men and when I see one autobot tear them apart like scrap metal, its natural to be curious and rid them of this problem." Deathsaurus says as he takes out a spiked mace on a chain. "Now show me what you can do." He fails it around while his free hand readies his shield.

"You will regret this." Sora shouts out as he charges towards Deathsaurus while firing a few bursts of firaga to which Deathsaurus blocks with his shield. Sora then swings at him only to yet again be blocked by the sheild and then hit by Deathsaurus's spike mace. Sora tries again, this time dodging the mace and jabbing his keyblade which actually hits Deathsaurus, causing him to stagger for a bit. Sora takes this opportunity to perform a few combos on the Decepticon commander before he recovers and begins blocking again. Sora then uses thunderaga on him a few times before he takes the stick of the chain mace and points it toward Sora. It fires some kinda laser beam and hits Sora. His mace was actually primarily a gun with the spiked mace bit modded on.

"I have to say I'm impressed. However I cannot allow you to continue to pose a danger to my men." Deathsaurus says as he transforms.

"Then why fight us? You know that any kind of battle will bring losses. Why bother fighting to kill if the only thing you get out of it is lossing more friends from the fighting?" Sora shouts to him. This seems to actually get to Deathsaurus for a moment before he shakes it off and declares.

"I fight because it is the Decepticon way." He then breaths fire towards Sora who takes cover behind a statue. He then tries casting thundaga again, but to his surprise, Deathsaurus dodges it and continues the attack of fire.

"But you don't have to do that. You don't have to conform to the Decepticon way." Sora says from behind his cover.

"I was born a Deception, so I will die a Decepticon. Tarn and the rest of the DJD know this, even if we don't agree on many things, they understand it. After I've killed you, I will continue fighting while keeping my men safe. I will continue conquering worlds with my men regardless of the opposition." Deathsaurus declares.

"And what happens when you lose too many men. Too many friends? What will you do?" Sora asks. This question resonates deep with Deathsaurus. Before Deathsaurus can formulate an answer, his com link comes to life.

"Deathsaurus. Get back up here. He has come." Tarn says. At this, Deathsaurus swiftly flies away. Sora looks back at the group to find Megatron slowly walking towards them, firing the fusion cannon made for him at the Decepticon horde. Every crusadercon in the battle then makes their way towards him, so Sora decides to do the same.

Sora rushed to Megatron's side, behind the others as all the Decepticons now focused their attention on him. The group finally reach him.

"Hey! Captain! Your crew reporting for duty." Rodimus says. It is then that Sora can see Megatron is holding something. When he turns around, Sora can see it. It was Ravages top half, and he was still alive.

"Get inside, all of you." Megatron orders.

"But-" Rodimus starts.

"I don't need your help. I don't need anybody's help, but Ravage does. Take him to Ratchet. Now." Megatron orders.

"But-"

"Now!" Megatron shouts. Rodimus takes Ravage and transforms, somehow placing Ravage on his roof. Sora can see that the others are preparing to follow through on his orders. He tries to move up to help Megatron but is stopped by Nautica.

"Don't worry. If he gets into trouble, then we'll rush back in as fast as we can. But right now, he needs to deal with this. He feels this is his doing so he also feels he must fix it. So come on, lets transform an roll out." She says before hopping atop Velocity's vehicle mode and speeding off.

"Right... transform." Sora thought. He then began running away from the battle while thinking about how he saw Rodimus transform. He imagined himself changing into a similar vehicle and then jumped, successfully changing into car mode. He then sped with the others into the fortress and back inside.

When he got in, Sora was so surprised how south things had gotten in the few seconds he was behind. Skids was on a medical bed with Nautica clinging to his now greyed out and lifeless body. The spark spasm had killed him. However Sora could only just barely register that as only just a few moment later on the TV screen, which was tapped into some security cameras, Megatron's fusion cannon was destroyed leaving him defenseless.

"Come on... Get up!" Rodimus yelled at the screen.

"Tell me Megatron." The voice from Deathsaurus's com link asked. "Look me in the eye and tell me, one question, one simple question before you die. Was it worth it?" on the screen were to large figures. One had two fusion cannons, tank treads on his shoulders, and the Decepticon insignia for a face while the other looked more standard with no indication of what he turned into. They both point their weapons at Megatron.

"Together?" The unfamiliar voice of the standard bot asks.

"Together." The more familiar voice confirms. This had to be Tarn, Sora thought. Just as the two fired their guns, an orange shield envelops Megatron, deflecting the shots. For a second, Sora thought that Megatron had somehow cast Reflect, but that was dashed as he noticed it was different.

"What the hell just..." Rodimus starts.

"...some kind of force field." Cyclonus finishes his own sentence.

"More a panic bubble than a..." Drift states.

"Thought only Trailcutter could do that." Ratchet states.

"He's using Trailcutters force field generator. He found it on the corpse." Ravage weakly clarifys.

"He stole it. Why?" Rodimus asks.

"I imagine autobot, that it was incase something like this happened." Ravage explains.

"Megatron! I'm coming for you!" Tarn angrily shouts as he punches the force field. "Tesarus, Vos, Helex, Nickel, to me! Deathsaurus, take the others and lay siege to the fortress. Kill the autobots and our alliance is over. Your free to go."

'Come on Deathsaurus. Do the right thing and stop fighting.' Sora thinks. After awhile, all the surrounding Decepticons minus Tarn, and four others transform and head away from the base. He did it. Deathsaurus called them off. Tarn's partner turned to leave as soon as three of the four Tarn called over arrived.

"You too, Overlord?" Tarn asks him.

"I'm not going with the others but I am going." Overlord replies. "I don't need this anymore, Tarn. I don't need him. I don't need to kill him or be seen to kill him. Look at him. Why would I waste another second of my life on a coward? You wan't him? He's all yours." Overlord turns into some kind of space jet, taking off away from the battle and the planet.

It is then Sora's attention is turned back to the inside of the fortress as Brainstorm walks up to ravage and says,

"Nope, sorry, don't get it. Trailcutter was an outlier."

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking, whats an outlier?" Sora asks.

"Short version, they're Cybertronian's born with super powers. Anyway, you can't just borrow his hand and... and do that. Not with out burning up monumental amounts of energy." Brainstorm says.

"Of anyone can find a way, its Megatron." Ravage assures. "He's not dangerous because he's stronger than everyone else. He's dangerous because he's smarter than everyone else."

"Present company excepted." Brainstorm argues.

"You? Ha! You're not even the smartest person in this conversation." Ravage burns.

"Er, remind me which one of us built a time machine out of brief cases?" Brainstorm brings up.

"Remind me *cough* which one of us stole it?" Ravage asks.

"Shush, less chat kitty cat. Rest." Velocity says.

"I'm dying Velocity. Talking helps me forget that fact." Ravage says.

"Hey, don't say things like that, you'll make it." Sora assures.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. I'm split in half. How do I make it from this?" Ravage asks. Rodimus then kills the conversation by getting the previous one back on track.

"I burnt the briefcases." Rodimus informs.

"Yes, all but one. The original." Ravage explains. "Megatron saw a time machine as the ultimate means of escape... should the need to escape ever present itself. He carried it with him everywhere. He used to *cough* hide it in his back..."

"What do you mean used to? Where is it now Ravage?" Rodimus asks. "Is it on the Lost Light? Because if Getaway gets his hands on it..."

"He won't, Megatron disposed of it months ago." Ravage interrupts. "He decided that instead of seeking refuge in the past, he should confront it." Meanwhile, Tarn has punched enough that the shield was weak enough for himself and the three others to pass through.

"Finally. Did you really think you could keep us out?" Tarn asks.

"It was never about keeping you out." Megatron says before bolting upright. "It was about sealing you in." Megatron then swipes off Tarns fusion cannons. "Two fusion cannons. Look at yourself."

"Guys." Whirl interrupts.

"Shhhh, Megatron's up to something... what is it?" Rodimus asks.

"We're millions of miles away from Cybertron. Stuck on a hollow planet that no ones supposed to know about. Can someone please explain to me what my arm is doing in one of the cupboards." Whirl asks as he presents a third, unattached arm.

"Woah. Creepy." Sora says.

"I know right." Whirl agrees. "Imagine you find your own dismembered arm in a cupboard. You would probably scream or something. I wouldn't because I'm me but..."

"He did it! He found a way!" Ravage interrupts.

"Found a way to what?" Whirl asks.

"To siphon antimatter." Ravage explains.

"What do you mean antimatter? The stuff coming out of his eyes?" Rodimus asks. Sora looks back to confirm that stuff is indeed coming out of Megatron's eyes.

"That "stuff" could power a panic bubble for a thousand years. Megatron spent half the war trying to establish a remote connection to a black hole so he could mine antimatter from a safe distance." Ravage explains.

"I hear he nearly succeeded." Ratchet says.

"Precisely. He failed. Shockwaves experiments left him with fresh inter-dimensional injuries and encouraged him to try again." Ravage says.

"But why? The wars over." Ratchet asks.

"You still don't understand him, do you?" Ravage asks. "You still don't understand how he operates. Moving his trial to Luna 2, stealing Trailcutters hand, stealing the briefcase... he's always ten steps ahead in ever direction. He knows what he wants today, but he knows that tomorrow he might want something different. Every eventuality is prepared for, every possibility, entertained. His whole life has been a cats cradle of contingency plans."

"What does any of that have to do with this miracle of engineering?" Whirl asks.

"Last year, you lost your arm to Megatron in a fight..." Ravage starts.

"Lost it? He frickin swallowed it!" Whirl explains.

"Yes, and today, he spat it out. For the last 12 months your arm has been edging towards an event horizon. Megatron used it as an anchoring point, knowing that if he could find it and retrieve it, he could make the connection to the black hole work both ways. He sat in his room for days on end, reaching out with his thoughts. He found the anchor, but he was never strong enough to bring it back. Tailgates spark spasm made him wonder whether pain was the answer. He used to say nothing focused the mind suffering, and I think today proves he was right."

"Okay. I understand... I think..." Sora says, but he is ignored.

"I just want to say this makes me all sorts of uneasy." Brainstorm says. "Antimatter is monumentally volatile."

"He knows that." Ravage says.

"Does he? Its guaranteed to explode, Ravage!" Brainstorm exclaims. "And when it does it'll take half this planet with it."

"No. Just everything inside the panic bubble." Ravage croaks.

"He's sacrificing himself." Sora realizes. Suddenly, all eyes are on the screen.

"Mark this day, Tarn. Its the day the dream dies."Megatron says to Tarn. "I'm shutting you down." The antimatter holds one of the DJD in place.

"Vos!" Tarn shouts to his comrade.

"No. Not Vos. Not anymore. Today, you die by your birth names. Starting with you Forestock." Megatron says as "Vos" is ripped apart by the antimatter.

"Oh, so they've all got made up names?" Velocity asks.

"They're named after citys." Rodimus clarifies.

"Even their leader?" Velocity asks.

"Even Tarn." Rodimus confirms.

"So whats his real name then? Who is he?" Velocity asks.

"Never mind that." A new voice says. "Who are you?" Everyone turns to see the speaker is big, bulky, orange bot. He is followed by about fifty other bots. At first Sora thinks they are Deceptions, he summons his keyblade, now back to Kingdom Key, ready to fight until Ratchet rushes up to the orange bot.

"Roller?!" Ratchet exclaims. "It is you! But how can you be here?" During the reunion, Sora takes a quick look at the screen to see Megatron has snagged Tarns mask and is wearing it on his chest where his autobot is. Megatron begins to grab Tarns neck and hoist him into the air when Sora returns his attention to Roller.

"Uh, Roller? Is that what I think it is?" Rodimus asks, pointing to the briefcase in Rollers hands.

"Uh... I think so. I don't actually know what is inside it." Roller says.

"I do. Brainstorm!" Rodimus calls.

"Right here!" Brainstorm calls.

"Can you use this Time-case as a teleporter?" Rodimus asks.

"Time-what?" Sora and Roller ask simultaneously. While Brainstorm was showing Rodimus how to use the time-case as just a teleporter, everyones attention turns back to the screen.

"Goodbye Glitch. I want you to die with one thought in your head: everything you did was for nothing." Megatron says as he strangles "Tarn". Rodimus then shows up on screen.

"Megatron!" He yells. "Leave him! Take my hand!" The dark matter then destroys Glitch's head, effectively killing him. "Brainstorms pulling me back in five seconds! Come on!" The two just stare at each other until Megatron takes Rodimus's hand and they disappear just before the panic bubble explodes. The two then reappear in the building.

"That was close." Sora comments.

"But it worked." Drift says. "Are you alright?" He asks the two.

"Ugh, tell Brainstorm his briefcase makes for a crap teleporter." Rodimus replies as he cradles his head.

"Megatron, quick, its Ravage." Ratchet says. Megatron hurries over to where Ravage lays. All attention is on them. "He was holding on, but now that your back..."

"I'm here Ravage. I'm here. It's me." Megatron says softly. Ravage lifts his paw up to Megatron's chest, which still had Glitch's mask on it.

"Don't... change... back." Ravage says. His bright red eyes then begin to fade until they are no more. His body collapses onto the table as his spark fades from existence. Megatron can only look down at Ravages body, shadows hiding his face. Everyone else either looks saddened or distraught at the cats death. Sora didn't know Ravage for long, yet he still considered him a friend and was naturally saddened by watching him die. After awhile, Megatron flips the table out of anger.

"C,mon. You need to rest. I'll patch you up." Ratchet offers as he gets close to Megatron.

"Don't touch me." Megatron warns.

"Okay, but you don't need that cannon anymore." Ratchet says.

"Leave it."

"Its not even-"

"Leave it!" Megatron shouts. He then points the damaged cannon towards the crew "...I think it's time I left."

"Megatron? Is that you?" Another unfamiliar voice calls out. Everyone turns to it to find a bot similar build and colours to Megatron, except he has treads on his arms and legs to signify he turns into some kind of heavy vehicle He also has two lights attached to the top of his head. "Whats going on?"

"Terminus?" Megatron asks.

"Are we still on Messatine?" Terminus asks. "There was an evacuation... An explosion..." Megatron detaches the cannon and huggs Terminus before he can finish his sentence. "Oof. Whats happened?"

"Nothing. Everything. I lost my way." Megatron says as the mask on his chest falls to the floor and he steps on it. Sora was going to ask who Roller and Terminus were, but decided against it. He could tell that Terminus was a friend to Megatron. A friend that he hadn't seen in a long time. Sora knew that feeling two when he reunited with Riku and Kairi after being separated from them for a year. The two then leave else where, probably to catch up.

Everyone else heads outside to see the sunrise. They had made it. They were alive. Sora absent mindedly follows Rodimus, Rewind, Drift and Ultra Magnus, out of his armour called Minimus Ambus, to a memorial stone.

"Roller I recognize, and Wavelength and I fought alongside Syphon during the forced flood, but the others? Not a clue." Rodimus says as Sora snaps his attention back to reality. "Dunno who they are or how they ended up here."

"The Necrobot brought them here." Rewind reveals.

"I can't believe you actually met him!" Drift exclaims.

"Met him and read his journal. Well as of ten minutes ago..." Rewind trails off.

"The Necrobot brought them here? When? How?" Rodimus asks.

"Last time we visited, Night beat took him to task for being too hands off." Rewind starts. Sora then wonders what happend to Night beat and the other guy that went with him. Swerve was right. He was really forgettable. "For watching people die instead of helping them live. Not long afterwards, he found Brainstorms briefcase by Megatron's statue and saw an opportunity to make a difference. He connected the case to the teleport chamber and started poaching people from the past."

"Randomly?" Minimus asks.

"What?"

"Random people?" Minimus rephrases the question.

"No, no. Quite the opposite. He worked his way down a list. That list." Rewind indicates the memorial stone in front of them "He targeted the disappeared. The Cybertronians who were lost to history. He knew he couldn't rewrite write the past, so he filled in the blanks." He then goes on to explain something about time sickness and that they were actually the organics in the pods.

"So what happened to everyone on the stone that he didn't get?" Sora asks.

"Genuinely unaccounted for I suppose... well most of them." Rewind says as he places down a spark flower at the base of the monument, particularly near the name of someone called Dominus Ambus. He then walks into the sunset alongside Chromedome. The sunset and the disappeared got Sora thinking. Now that Sora had helped his friends here, it was only right to return to his search for Kairi.

"Hey. I gotta go. Theres someone disappeared who I need to find." Sora says.

"How will you get off planet?" Rodimus asks.

"I have a way. Unfortunately, it can only take me." Sora replies.

"No need to worry yourself, Sora." Minimus assures. "I hear Brainstorm is thinking of a way to get us off planet."

"Before you go, I feel the need to give you this." Drift hands him a keychain with the autobot symbol on it. "I found it during my fight against the stone army. I believe it is compatible with your keyblade. I wish you the best on your journey."

"You too. Besides, we'll see each other again. I know it." Sora says. Sora then waves goodbye as he walks away from the fortress. He continues walking until he is out of sight. "I think I'm closer to finding Kairi." He says to himself. "She's not too far away." Sora summons Kingdom Key and opens a portal to a new world.


	4. The princess and the Mandalorian

Upon awakening, the first thing Kairi noticed was an aching in her back. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was getting kidnapped by Xemnas. Right! Xemnas! Kairi sits bolt upright to find herself surrounded by a lush jungle. Last she checked, there were no jungles near the keyblade graveyard. What happened? How long was she out? Were questions that plagued her mind as she got to her feet.

As she got up, she noticed that the forest held some unrecognizable plants. Sure one could dismiss this as just something they didn't know about and that someone somewhere would be able to identify the plant and tell you everything about them. That wasn't the case here. Everything looked alien and it was everywhere, Kairi was sure that a more recognizable and basic plant, something like grass, was not present in this jungle. Now the question was, where was she? She never explored many worlds in her life so she wouldn't know. Sora had been practically everywhere. If he were here, he sure could tell her where this was and what kind of people lived here. Wait, Sora! Where was everyone. She was just taken away when Roxas had arrived along with that new girl Xion. Someone had to notice she was gone and come looking, right?

Until that time, Kairi decided that she would have to be on her own and so began searching for a suitable place to rest.

* * *

The Razor-crest had exited hyperspace and slowly moved towards the planet in front of it. Salucami. It was another planet on the edge of the galaxy. Only population there were a few farmers, nothing more. Perfect for someone on the run to hide. The pilot of the ship, know only as the Mandalorian, turned to look at its passanger. A baby of unknown species that was currently playing with a metal ball from one of the ships levers.

"Maybe we'll have different luck here." The Mandalorian says to the baby. The baby in return only smiles and returns its ball so it can be placed back on the lever it came from. The ship then begins it's approach to the planet. "Only people here are farmers. We'll be safe for awhile." He assure the baby as they begin their final approach.

Upon landing, the Mandalorian grabs the baby and carrys him down to the locker that he made the baby's room.

"Stay here. I'm going to look around. Then you can come out." The baby can only stare in response. Assuming he had listened, the Mandalorian closes the locker and prepares his pulse rifle incase of any danger. He lowers the boarding ramp and heads outside. Searching the area around the ship, he finds nothing of any danger, and heads back to the Razor-crest.

"Its safe." He says to the baby as he returns. The baby then walks outside to play. "Don't go too far." The Mandalorian demands. Once the baby is out of sight, he shakes his head. "I'm beginning to sound like a dad." he sighs. He then begins routine checks of their supplys. Ammo. Check. Fuel. Check. Water. Check. Food. Their food was running low. 'Probably should have made a quick run to Lothal to get some food before we came here.' He thinks to himself.

The Mandalorian then makes his way outside to check on the child just in time to see some farmers running up to the ship. He pulls out his blaster and points it at the farmers.

"Hey! What are you doing!" He demands.

"Sir! You have to help us! These dark creatures just appeared out of no where and started attacking our workers! Please, we'll give you anything!" One of them begs. The Mandalorian thinks about it for awhile. He could ask them for rations. Pretty convenient that whenever a problem arises there was a job to fix it.

"You have spare rations?" He asks them.

"Yes." the other farmer frantically responds.

"Then I'll help." The Mandalorian picks up the child. Can't leave it here, he thinks as he follows the farmers to their farm, which was a good 10 minutes away. When they got their, people where running away from a hoard of small black creatures that had no other details besides their glowing yellow eyes. "You brought me here to deal with these?" He asks. It looked like the farmers themselves could handle them.

"They're more dangerous then they look. Some of us found that out the hard way." One of the farmers says. At that moment a farmer that was running from the hoard is caught and a glowing object that appears to be a heart floats out of his body as the body itself disintegrates.

"What the hell." The Mandalorian says to himself as he readys his pulse rifle. Taking aim, he fires on the first creature he sees, disintegrating it completely. Rinse and repeat for a few more of the monsters until Mando notices he is getting low on amunition for the rifle. Deciding to conserve it he switches to his blaster which doesn't rely on ammo and begins blasting away at the creatures. Eventually, they stop chasing the farmers and go after him instead. The hoard was cut down noticeably but their were still a lot considering that before Mando had arrived they took up nearly half the field.

A group gets closer and it becomes clear that the Mandalorian won't be able to take them all out before they reached him. Just as the creatures were in attacking distance, they stop as if they are repelled by something. Mando looks down to the child who has his arms out stretched. He was holding them back using its weird mind powers. The Mandalorian takes this opportunity and uses its flame thrower to quickly incinerate all those being held back along with the ones still charging at him. After that is done, Mando finishes off the few left leaving one, which he kicks in its big ass head, killing it.

"Thank you sir, how can we ever repay you?" One of the surviving farmers ask as the rest of the farmers gather around.

"I need some rations for myself and the kid." Mando indicates the baby, who is now chasing a frog. "And I'll need some credits to restock my pulse rounds." He adds.

"Right away sir." He says as the farmers move to get what he asks. The baby catches the frog and proceeds to eat it as he looks up at Mando, who can only shake his head and pick him up after he finishes.

"Thanks." He simply replies to the child.

The farmers come back with a crate with various foods in them and a handful of credits. "This is all we can spare." One of them says. Mando looks down at his rewards. The credit count was low, as to be expected for farmers, but the food was sufficient. He has the money he got from freeing that one twi'lek anyway.

"This should be fine." Mando says as he accepts the credits and the crate of food. He then carry's the crate and the child back to the Razor-crest as night fall arrives. As the Mandalorian eats with the child, he wonders how long they can hide here until another bounty hunter finds them.

* * *

Kairi checked her phone signal again. Still nothing. I thought these phones were supposed to work across worlds." She thinks as she continues to walk. Something about this place just didn't sit right with her. And to add more problems, it was starting to become night. Kairi wished to find some sort of shelter soon as she didn't want to sleep next to these weird plant which were filled with who knows what kind of poison or something, along with the fact that some predator could stumble upon her in her sleep.

As she continued walking through the night she began to think back to they keyblade graveyard, trying to remember what happened. Something had to answer why she was here, why she wasn't getting a signal and why everyone both bad and good was no where in sight.

As Kairi walks she approaches what looks to be a settlement. Just in time too as she begins feeling the drowsiness of the lack of sleep. Figuring the people wouldn't mind she makes her way into what was the barn, which thankfully was absent of animals for some reason, and begins to fall asleep, figuring that she would wake up early to ask the people living here where here is.

Thanks to her keyblade training, Kairi was able to wake up early today. Now that her environment is brightened up from the light of day, Kairi takes a look at her surroundings more clearly. The barn seemed to be made entirely of unpainted wood and there were barn tools and haystacks everywhere, as every barn should have. The thing that intrigued Kairi the most was the farm animals. They were all locked in their stalls, which explains why Kairi slept undisturbed, but more importantly, they did not look like any animal Kairi recognized. They looked like small skinny elephants with shorter trunks. She wondered what they were used for. She then quickly gets up and sneaks out of the barn.

When Kairi gets out of the barn, she can see what looked like a house to her left. She decides to ask for directions. She walks up to the door and politely knocks and waits a few seconds before it is answered. A young woman answers the door, but she certainly wasn't human. She had two tail like appendages flowing out of where her hair would be and to top it off her skin was a pink color.

Remembering she was taught not to disturb the world order, she decides to pay it all no mind.

"Who are you?" The woman asks.

"I'm Kairi. I'm kinda lost so I was wondering if you could give me directions." Kairi explains.

"Well, I'm Shere. Do you live on another farm on the planet?" She asks.

"No. I live on an island. I was last in a desert area with all my friends and suddenly I woke up here. Maybe you know of one around here.?" Kairi asks.

"Hmmm. There are no deserts on Salucami. Someone must have kidnapped you and brought you here. Although why they would leave you, I don't know." Shere explains.

"Oh." Kairi sadly sighs. She begins wracking her brain for any possible solutions when Shere offers her own.

"If you come from a different planet then maybe you can hitch a ride with a ship I just saw land on the planet. Maybe you can pay them to take you where you need to go."

"Oh thank you." Kairi thanks.

"I don't know if its still here, but its worth a shot. I saw it land to the east. There is a farm an hour away from here, so maybe thats where it is." Shere explains.

"Thank you." Kairi says before leaving for the farm. On the walk her mind is overrun with thoughts. 'Is it someone who's come looking for me after they realized I disappeared from the battle? Is the second keyblade war finished and everyone is scouring the worlds searching for me? Do they know why Xemnas just dropped me off here? Could it be Sora who's landed here?' She thinks as she walks towards the far at a brisk pace.

As the long walk continues, she thinks back to the battle in the keyblade graveyard. She remembers the Xehanort possesed Terra attempt to strike her down while she was frozen by fear. She remembers being effortlessly sucked into the heartless tornado. And she remembers being taken by Xemnas while she did nothing to stop him. Kairi could deny the fact that she was useless during the whole battle. She could barely even fight Xion and has to have Axel cover for her a lot of the time while simultaneously fighting Saix. These thoughts of uselessness and guilt over the previous thoughts persisted until the farm was in sight. As she approaches she can see the farmers tending to some alien looking crops, then again what wasn't here. As she quickens her pace, she stops in her tracks when she notices multiple shadow heartless spawn around the farmers.

"The shadow demons are back!" One screams.

"Quickly! Back to the mandalorian!" Another orders.

"We won't be able to afford him a second time!" Yet another says.

"Quickly! This way! Maybe we can lead them away from the farm!" The first says. The group makes their way in the away from Kairi, only for more heartless to spawn and block their path. Seeing the people in trouble, Kairi summons Destinys Embrace and charges at the closest shadow. She strikes it, and all the shadows in the area immediately take notice of her. They are not the only ones.

"Look, over there!" A farmer exclaims.

"Who's that?" Another farmers asks.

Kairi starts off by firing of some firara at the horde, thining their numbers. She then takes out the rest with precision strikes from her keyblade. The battle was easy, then again, so was the other times she faced off against shadows.

"Thank you, young miss. What can we do to repay you?" One of the farmers asked after the battle.

"There is a ship here, correct?" Kairi asks.

"Yes, a ship landed here yesterday." he responds.

"I was wondering if I could be taken off world. I'm kinda supposed to be somewhere else." Kairi explains.

"I understand. However, that ship does not belong to us. It belongs to a mandalorian. If you pay him enough credits, he may take you where you need to go." He explains.

"Thank you." Kairi thanks. During her keyblade training, Kairi was told her munny would convert to the currency of whatever world she was in at the time. She had a fair amount when she last checked, so she should be good. She heads north to find the ship.

* * *

It was early in the day as Mando was cleaning his pulse rifle. After this, he wasn't sure what he was going to do after this. As Mando thinks of what comes next after this he finishes with his rifle before he can come up with a solution. He stashes it back beside his weapons hold since its too big to fit inside, and heads outside to check on the child.

He heads outside the razor crest and the first thing he sees is no child. He looks around the ship and cannot find him anywhere.

"Kid?" Mando calls out to him while looking around to see if he would show up out of anywhere. "Kid?" He calls out again.

A few shadow blobs that where at the farm, materialize around the ship, luckily, there aren't as many as their where back at the farm. The Mandalorian pulls out his blaster, fearing the worst for the child.

"What dod you do!" He demands. The demons do not respond, they most likely weren't intelligent enough. Mando then begins firing off his blaster, hitting the demons with pinpoint accuracy.

* * *

Its only five minutes down the road when Kairi comes across a lone shadow heartless. Seeing as it was no immediate threat, she was in no rush to defeat it. That was, until she saw it coming up towards some small green creature with big ears. She quickly rushes to the heartless and kills it with one swipe. She then looks back to the creature who had stopped trebling in fear as it was before she arrived. Seeing as how it had clothes on, this was probably not an animal. Kneeling down to the child's level, or at least close to it seeing as it was really small, she says.

"Don't worry. Your safe now." The creature looks Kairi in the eyes and gives her an adorable smile. Kairi silently squeals at this. "Oh, you are just adorable aren't you." She then looks around to see if there are any more of its kind around, its parents maybe. However, nothing is in sight. "Are you lost?" Kairi asks the child, to which it nods its head. "Do you live with the farmers?" She asks, to which the child shakes it head to say no. 'Hmmm, where could it have come from then?' Kairi thinks. "Are you with this mandalorian person?" Kairi asks, to which the child smiles signifying a yes. "Great! I was going over to see him myself. If he's taking care of you, he'll probably be just fine giving me a ride to wherever I need to go." She says.

She then picks up the child, who luckily isn't heavy, and looks at it closer. She then notices it also has what was essentially peach fuzz on its head making it somewhat even cuter. With the child still smiling at her, Kairi was internally squealing at the adorableness of this thing. "Come on, lets go find him." She says, failing to keep smiling at the child herself. 'If only Sora were here to see this.' she thinks as she continues along the path.


	5. Mask of Light

After crossing through the portal, Sora finds himself in what looked to be a deep jungle. It looked like any other Jungle until Sora noticed a bird fly up onto a nearby tree. The strange thing was, the bird looked mechanical.

"Uh oh. Am I still on Necro world?" Sora asks himself. "Wait, if I'm still on Necro world, then my appearance eance wouldn't've changed." He thinks out loud.

Sora quickly finds a small puddle of water and looks at his reflection. His appearance did indeed change from being a transformer, though it wasn't like it normally was. He was still a robot, though this time he was significantly shorter than he usually was. His colour scheme strayed from his normal silver and black with a little bit of red, and was instead green and light blue. The most peculiar thing about his new appearance was the weird mask on his face. Though he didn't know it, this was a kanohi Zatth. (Kongu mahri's mask)

"Woah!" Sora exclaims at his new appearance. "Do I just have a thing for robots today?" Sora asks himself. No matter, Sora was used to the cycle now. Search for Kairi in this world while making new friends and helping along the way if the last two worlds had taught him anything. Once Sora gets to his feet, he spies two more robots similar build to him, riding on a giant mechanical crab. The first robots was red and yellow with a kinda curvy mask while the other was red and blue with a more sort of squared off mask. They apparently hadn't noticed him yet as they continued their conversation.

"Ah! I hate the jungle." Red and blue said. "Its all stick and filled with-" He squashes a mosquito that landed on his arm. "- bugs."

"How can you say that?" Red and yellow asks. "Its incredible! Is there any place on Mata Nui that you do feel at home?"

"I don't complain about Ta-koro." Red and blue answers.

"But you wonder off every chance you get, looking for stories. What about your story?" Red and yellow asks.

"I don't have a story." Red and blue responds.

"Only because you can't stand still long enough to make one. We all have a destiny you know." Red and yellow argues.

"You know me. Always different." Red and blue responds. It is then that they notice Sora. "Oh, uh, Hey!"

"Hi!" Sora runs up to them.

"Are you lost? First time a Le-matoran's ever been lost in the jungle." Red and yellow asks.

"Kind of. Uh, I'm Sora." Sora introduces.

"I'm Jaller. The captain of the guard in Ta-koro." Red and yellow introduces. 'Captain of the guard huh?' Sora thinks. 'Kind of like Goofy.'

"And, uh, I'm Takua. The chronicler." Red and blue introduces. "We're looking for the seventh toa. Are you him?"

"Uh I don't know anything about a toa so I don't think so." Sora responds.

"Wha? You've never heard of a toa? What rock have you been living under? Must be deeper than Onu-koro." Jaller asks.

"Wait. Do you remember anything about the toa, the Makuata, or the villages and the turaga?" Takua asks.

"Uh... I'm not familiar with those." Sora responds. Jaller can only give him a weird look until Takua whispers into his ear.

"He must have lost his memory, like I did at the beach." Takua whispers to him. "We should help him."

"Very well." Jaller agrees. "Hey, did you wanna come with us on our quest?"

"Quest? Is it to find this seventh toa you mentioned?" Sora asks.

"Yeah. On the way, we can explain somethings to you to help you." Takua offers. "I'm sure Pukku souldn't mind a third passenger, isn't that right girl." He pats the crab apparently named Pukku, who chirps in response.

"Sure. Thank you." Sora thanks as he hops aboard, right behind Jaller and Takua. The crab then continues on its way.

"So you mentioned you don't know about the toa." Takua starts. "Well, a toa is basically a taller version of us matoran. There are one for each element: Fire, water, air, ice, earth, and stone. They protect us from the Makuta. The brother of the great spirit Mata nui. He lives to spread his shadows upon us and enslave us."

"Yeah, and we would have been history if the toa hadn't shown up." Jaller adds. "They helped us fight the Rahi and the bohrok, the evil beasts of the Makuta."

"That probably also answered what the Makuta is. Any other questions?" Takua asks.

"Yeah, who is Mata Nui?" Sora asks. The two other matoran look at each other before turning back to Sora.

"Mata Nui is the great spirit. The one who gave us the three virtues. Unity, duty, and destiny." Takua explains. "In honer of this, we named this island after him. unfortunately, the Makuta cast a spell on him thats put him into a deep sleep. It is the toa's destiny to defeat the Makuta and awaken Mata Nui."

"And this seventh toa will help? How do you know where to find him?" Sora asks.

"Vakama told us his mask will guide us." Takua says, taking out the mask of light to show him.

"Who is Vakama? Is he a friend?" Sora asks.

"Vakama is a turaga. The leader of our village of Ta-koro. Just like there are six toa, there are six villages each with their own turaga." Jaller explains.

"Each village has a different culture too. You learn about these things when you visit often." Takua comments. Before the conversation can continue further, a loud roar catches the attention of Sora and the two matoran to a large mechanical bear. Takua and Jaller scream as the bear charges. Sora quickly summons Kingdom Key and smacks it back, stunning it for a bit.

"Keep em busy." Jaller shouts as he begins climbing a nearby tree. Takua is to overwhelmed to respond to Jaller. The bear swipes at Sora only for him to guard against it.

"What are you doing?" Takua finally asks.

"Toa Tahu always does this." Jaller says before leaping into the bears back. It then stops attacking Sora and focuses all its attention unto removing Jaller by trying to shake him off. It does this until some vines shoot out of no where and tie it up before lifting it into the air. Then a tall, green, robot swoops in.

"Friend of yours?" Sora asks Takua.

"Yeah. Thats Lewa. Toa of air." Takua answers.

"Mata Nui! Where did you learn to bear fight like that little one?" Lewa asks Jaller.

"Ugh... right here. Just now." Jaller weakly replies.

"Well, I'd say, your a natural brave fire spitter." Lewa replies. Jaller sighs.

"Better finish what I started." He then takes out a short sword and moves in to kill the bear until Lewa stops him.

"Now, now. Whats that for?" He asks. "You and ash-bear got no wrong coral? She just doin her duty. If this was your home realm, you'd be doing the same." Lewa then lets down the bear. "Go now, sister bear." The bear then walks away from the group. Lewa then notices the unfamiliar face. "I don't believe we've talked- met have we?" He asks Sora.

"No. I'm Sora." Sora introduces. "Your Lewa right?"

"You'd be right. Ha ha." Lewa cheerfully says. "Anyway, word is deep wood, you seek the seventh toa."

"He seeks. I follow. He's the harold, I'm just his biographer." Takua says before realizing he left out Sora. He then thinks back to that weird weapon he summoned to defend himself and Pukku. "Oh, and he's our back up." he points to Sora.

"If toa Lewa helped on your search, might he be a spirit lift?" Lewa asks. The three look to each other.

"You with us?" Takua asks.

"It would be nice to have more company." Sora comments.

"We would be honoured to have you walk with us." Jaller voices their final decision.

"Walk, ha! Not never. If you ride with me, there'll be no foot-walking just air-flying!" Lewa exclaims. Lewa the whistles and a giant mechanical bird comes down to him. Ever wond-fly a guko bird?" He asks.

"I've been a second, but I've never actually flown one myself." Takua answers.

"Then todays for quick-learning!" Lewa exclaims before picking up the three and putting them atop the bird. "Stay sharp, and follow well." Lewa says as he takes out two katanas and uses them as wings to fly off.

"Sorry Pukku, no room." Takua says as the left behind crab. "Go on home." The three fly of with Lewa, towards the next step in their adventure.

The three followed Lewa through the dense jungle. It was easy to tell, it would take a lot longer to make the same progress they just made on foot. The group make their way up a steep ledge until their gukko bird crashes upon reaching the top, throwing the three matoran off of it into the snow. Upon recovery, the four hear what sounded like drums.

"What is that sound?" Sora asks Lewa.

"They are the drums of Le-koro. It is how we communicate to each other from far away. Now, listen well." Lewa answers as everyone listens to the drums. As they go one Lewa informs. "They bring u-sorry bad story." They then let the drums play in their entirety. "Your village has fallen to... Rahkshi! The Makuta's sons!"

"My village. In trouble?" Jaller worriedly realizes. "I should have been there. I must return."

"Sorry fire spitter. Past late to help now. The mask most needs you." Lewa says.

"Sora will continue in my place." Jaller shoves the mask unto Sora.

"But... didn't the mask choose you to bring it to the seventh toa?" Sora asks.

"No it chose Takua. In fact why am I giving it to you." Jaller then shoves it to Takua.

"Uh uh, no way. You accepted this duty." Takua argues.

"I accepted your duty." Jaller shouts.

"Stop. What is this duty coral? We all have a duty to Mata Nui. No time to in-fight." Lewa advises. "I must go, be with the toa. But then I will go to your village Jaller. Heart-promise." He promises.

"I..." Jaller looks up to Lewa before looking away. "I can't thank you enough toa." Lewa the jumps off of the cliff, using his katanas to glide away.

"Well, I guess we're going through Ko-wahi." Takua signifies it is time to get going. Jaller is silent through the journey as he leads on. His mind is probably off thinking about his village. Sora moves up to him in an attempt to talk to him and maybe cheer him up.

"I'm sorry about your village." Sora apologizes.

"Thanks. Its just. I should have been there to help with the defense. Its just... Tahu's a great toa and a really good friend, he just can't do everything himself. Thats where myself and the Ta-koronan guard came in. We covered his blind spots if you would call it that. I should have been there to lead them. Maybe then it wouldn't have gotten destroyed." Jaller sadly explains.

"Hey. I'm sure there's nothing you could have done. I... lost my home one time..." Sora begins to explain.

"Your home?" Jaller asks. How could he remember his home if he had amnesia? Maybe Takua was wrong with his assumption.

"Yeah, you see, I come from an island far away from here." Sora explains.

"Another island? I thought Mata Nui was the only island to exist." Jaller silently exclaims. "Then again, we haven't explored outwards much."

"Yeah. I come from an island called Destiny Islands." Sora says. "Except, around a year ago it fell into darkness and I was separated from my friends, Riku and Kairi."

"Fell into darkness? The Makuta was there?" Jaller asks.

"In a way." Sora says. "Thing is, my island was destroyed and I was separated and even though I wanted to go back, I had an important mission to do."

"Oh? What was that?" Jaller asks.

"Uh... I had to use this to help other islands." Sora explains before summoning his keyblade.

"Woah! We never had anything like that in the Ta-koro guard!" Jaller exclaims.

"This is the keyblade. It can help with the darkness." Sora explains.

"Oh, yeah? Help in what way?" Jaller asks.

"They are the only weapon that can destroy a dark creature called a heartless." Sora explains.

"Never heard of them. Could they be connected to the rahkshi? I never heard of them either until Lewa mentioned it." Jaller asks. Sora thought over it.

"Maybe, but we don't know for sure."

"So why are you on this island anyway?" Jaller asks.

"I'm here to search for one of my friends." Sora says.

"One of them?" Jaller asks.

"Yeah. You see, my island was restored and I found both my friends. But very recently, I lost Kairi again so I'm on a quest to find her." Sora explains.

"Well I hope you find her." Jaller says.

"Jaller! Sora!" Takua cries out. The two turn to find Takua is not there. Instead, all that is there is white.

"Takua!" Jaller cries out. Takua then appears through the snow storm.

"Next time you might wanna pay attention to the whole group." Takua says.

"Sorry." Jaller sheepishly replies as he rubs the back of his head.

"Did you at least keep us on track?" Takua asks. In response, Jaller points the mask and it shines brightly indicating that they were indeed heading the right way. The three then press on.

"Does something here look familiar?" Takua asks, think Jaller was just leading them in a circle.

"Well maybe our path would straighter if the real herald had the mask." Jaller complains.

"The real herald HAS the mask." Takua argues. "I couldn't find water if I fell out of a canoe."

'These guys argue more than Riku and I have ever argued.' Sora thinks.

"Well, what do you think I can find." Jaller asks. As if the universe heard Jaller, he bumps into something making him stumble back onto Takua. What he bumped into can now be seen clearer. It was some giant mechanical bug looking thing.

"Bohrok!" They both exclaim. The pair then notice it is unmoving.

"Frozen? Who could do this to them?" Jaller asks. The universe head again as foot steps could be heard approaching them. The snow storm immediately parts to reveal a robot with the same build as Lewa. Except he is white, has a different mask and a douple sided sword and shield instead of twin katanas. This must be another toa, Sora thinks.

"Kopaka!" Jaller exclaims. "Toa of ice. How did you find us?"

"It was you who was following me." Kopaka answers in a completely disinterested tone.

"We were?" Jaller asks. Then without a word, Kopaka turns to leave.

"We didn't mean to!" Takua hastily explains. "We were lost."

"We're on a mission. I suppose you've heard of it." Jaller says as the group runs after him.

"No." Kopaka flatly states.

"Well, we've been sent to find the seventh toa." Jaller explains. "You see, Takua here was in the tunnel were the lava break is. Where he's not supposed to be by the way..."

* * *

Once Takua and Jaller finish telling the whole story, somewhat filling in the blanks for Sora, and getting Kopaka up to speed, the four walk through the snow in complete silence. They travel until they come across what looked to be a village.

"Ah, Ko-koro." Kopaka happily sighs. Using his mask of x-ray vision, he gets a closer look at the village to discover it is abandoned. "No." He whispers. A bright light then shines from inside the village, Kopaka then pushes the three matoran out of the way before an energy blast hit them.

The four run away from the source until Kopaka orders. "Stop!" The group had almost ran off a cliff. The group then hears a hissing sound and turns to find three snake like creatures with arms and legs carrying some sort of staff.

To make matters worse, several neo-shadow, blizzard plant, and ice cube heartless appear along side them.

"What are those?" Takua exclaims.

"More servants of Makuta?" Jaller suggests.

"Heartless." Sora answers. Kopaka then drop his shield to the ground.

"Go!" He says, wanting them to use his shield as a sled to escape.

"The captain of the guard never runs awa-" Jaller can't finish his sentence as Takua pushes him unto the shield and down the hill before another energy blast hits them.

"Go! Down the hill! If you hurry you can catch up with them." Kopaka demands before splitting his double sided sword into two individual swords.

"No, you'll need help and I know how to deal with the heartless." Sora argues.

"I can't fight this many enemy's and look after you." Kopaka states.

"Don't worry, I can look after my self." Sora says as he summons Kingdom Key. Kopaka didn't know why, but he felt assured that Sora wouldn't get himself killed.

"Very well." Kopaka readies himself to fight. Sora then switches his keychain for the one Drift gave him. His keyblade then changes to look more like a golden futuristic key (It looks like the key to Vector Sigma if your a transformers fan). This keyblade was named Sigma Matrix. Kopaka charges at the Rahkshi, deflecting their oncoming blows and then attacking back with his own, only to be deflected and have the whole process repeat itself.

Meanwhile Sora activates his shotlock and locks onto as many heartless as he can before letting her rip. Twenty energy blasts are sent towards twenty heartless. Each one struck turned into solid metal, making defeating them much easier when they couldn't move or fight back. The blue rahkshi seems to get bored with fighting Kopaka and decides to try to have a go at Sora. He moves in for an overhead attack which Sora easily dodges and counter attacks. Sora had to admit, with his now stubbier legs and arms, it was a bit of a challenge to fight. Nonetheless, Sora smacked it in the head before it reeled back and hissed at him, opening its face and showing off the slug inside in the process. While continuing to fight on, Sora noticed some heartless move in on Kopaka while he is fighting the other two rahkshi.

Kopaka notices this too, but still continues to focus on the rahkshi until the heartless get too close for comfort. Kopaka then switches to a more defensive strategy, hitting and defeating a heartless every time he deflects a rahkshi's attack. It would truly looked magnificent to an outside audience. Eventually, Kopaka mask morphs into an entirely new looking mask that seemed to give him the power of super speed as he defeated the remaining heartless and hit the rahkshi a few more times before switching back to his perfered mask. The brown rahkshi's staff illuminates with the same energy that was seen in the village before blasting out and being guarded against by Kopaka, however the force is too great and knocks Kopaka off the cliff.

"Kopaka!" Sora shouts, distracting him enough so that the blue rahkshi attempts to perform what is essentially an overhead stab with its staff. Unfortunately for it, Sora recovers quickly enough to dodge the strike by sliding under the rahkshi and delivering a blast of blizzara to the chest, freezing it in place.

The other two rahkshi look at Sora and consider their options. That key weapon looked powerful and their father may want it. They could get that or go after their original target. The rahkshi make their choice my somehow floating in the air and flying towards the direction Kopaka, Takua, and Jaller went. Sora switches his key chain back to Kingdom Key and uses it to snowboard down the hill.

When he gets down he finds Takua with the mask of light on the water, using Kopaka's shield as a raft, paddling away from the battle. However this doesn't deter them as they just fly past the water towards Takua. Sora casts thunderaga on the two unsuspecting slugs, knocking them down into the water. Kopaka then walks up to the edge with his now reassembled double sword and says.

"Rahkshi, washed and chilled." He then sticks one end of his sword into the lake causing it to freeze over. One of the rahkshi's hands shoots up in an attempt to grab Takua, but it is denied this as the frost reaches up to it and encases it in ice. Kopaka removes his sword and walks up to Takua to check on him without a word. Jaller and Sora follow not long after. Kopaka picks up his shield as Takua removes his foot from the frozen lake and gets up.

"Good moves." Kopaka compliments.

"Even I get lucky sometimes." Takua responds.

"Not luck." Kopaka says. "It's what you do that makes a hero." He moves Takua's mask, which was moved off its proper position i the escape, back to it's original position. The group the hear chirping as pukku is seen running towards them.

"No! Stop Pukku!" Jaller exclaims.

"Pukku!" Takua exclaims at the same time Jaller says the name. Pukku the plows Takua over onto his back, licking him like a dog would. "Wow! She musta come come all the way through the jungle!" He exclaims.

"She must really think highly of you." Sora says.

"Yeah. Sorry for leaving you in Le-wahi Pukku." Takua apologizes. Pukku temporarily stops the licking only to continue again. It was obvious all was forgiven.

"Not bad. Maybe Pukku should be the herald, eh toa Kopaka-" Jaller is cut off as the group realizes he isn't there. They then catch a glimpse of Kopaka walking away from them on the hill they just came from. "He just left us here." Jaller complains.

"He must see to his village." Takua defends.

"Right. He should help other while he can. Meanwhile, we have a different mission and I'm sure we can pull it off without Kopaka or Lewa." Sora assures. This seems to lift up everyones moral.

"Right. Lets go." Takua says before the group jump back on Pukku and take off.

The group then approach a cave within a mountain. Beside its entrance was a stone with some dialect written on it that Sora couldn't understand. Luckily he didn't have to wonder what it said.

"Onu-koro highway." Takua reads out. "Doesn't look like its been used in a while. We don't have a light stone." The mask then takes its cue to glow and function like a flash light.

"Ha! Who needs light stones." Jaller retorts before the group head in. Jaller leads the way for awhile until he looks back to the group. "Where's Takua?" He asks. Sora looks behind himself and confirms Takua's absence.

"I don't know. Think he got lost?" Sora asks.

"Maybe distracted. Found and interesting rock formation or something. Takua looking for stuff like that was how we got into this mess." Jaller says. The two along with Pukku backtrack a little. "Takua!" Jaller calls. Luckily, he didn't have to call anymore as they found Takua quickly. "The mask is pointing this way." The group then gets back on track. "So where'd you wander off to?" Jaller asks.

"Jaller... um... about the mask." Takua inquires.

"What about it? Are you ready to take it! Finally!" Jaller asks with excitement.

"I can't. I can't go with you." Takua sighs.

"What?" Jaller asks with a hint of anger in his voice. "Why?"

"I- I can't explain." Takua answers.

"Just try, Takua. I'm sure we can understand." Sora says.

"No." Takua replies nervously. "You, uh, wouldn't understand."

"Oh, well thats just great. First you stick me with your duty and the you ditch me!?" Jaller exclaims.

"My duty's to myself. I quit! Just take the mask and go." Takua answers as he walks away, Pukku following him.

"Fine. But I won't give up. We'll find the seventh toa weather you're the true herald or not!" Jaller yells to him. Sora watches the break up between the two friends and the situation can't help but feel familiar. Like in his first adventure when he found Riku and invited him to join him and Donald and Goofy only for him to disappear. Difference was the circumstances here were slightly different.

"You coming Sora?" Jaller asks.

"Yeah." Sora follows him out of the cave. It was awhile before the two started talking again.

"Some nerve with Takua right. You ever had a friend that abandoned you at an important time?" Jaller asks. Sora once again, thinks back to his first adventure.

"Two actually, but they both came back around." Sora explains. "Maybe Takua will to." Jaller just huffs at his response. The two eventually reach the end of the cave and arrive at the nase of what looked to be some mountains.

"I could be wrong, but I think this is the other side of Ko-wahi." Jaller explains. The mask shines up the mountains indicating the two must go up there.

"I see a path that will lead us over the mountains, but its still a climb up." Sora informs.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Jaller states before putting the mask in his back pack and begin climbing. As the two climb, a conversation starts up again. "So, Sora, what was your island like?" Jaller asks.

"Well they were actually two islands. The larger main island where the town is at and a smaller play island where the kids play at when they're old enough." Sora explains.

"Kids?" Jaller asks.

"Yeah. You know, the little guys around 5-12 years old. You guys don't have those?" Sora asks.

"Uh, we could. We don't actually know any of our ages. We awoke one day on the Ta-wahi beach with no memory of how we got there." Jaller explains.

"Really? Nothing?" Sora asks.

"No. If it weren't for the turaga, we probably wouldn't be here today." Jaller says.

"Who are the turaga?" Sora asks.

"The leaders of each village. Six, just like the toa and the villages. There's Vakama, Nokama, Matau, Onewa, Nuju, and Whenua." Jaller says.

"What are they like?" Sora asks.

"I can't really speak for all of them since I only know Vakama, and only just met with Nokama and Onewa." Jaller explains. "Vakama is wise. He gets visions from the future from the great fire which has been burning for a long time he says. When we woke up, he and the other turaga knew exactly what we had to do to survive."

"Oh. Reminds me of another friend I have. Yen Sid." Sora explains. "Do you know anything about him from before you woke up?" Sora asks. Jaller pauses.

"I never actually thought to ask." Jaller reveals. The two then get to the path. As they are about to take a rest, a tremor sends Sora, toppling over the edge with Jaller grabbing him before falls. Jaller also falls over but grabs the ledge, saving himself and Sora for now. The group then here something approaching.

"Heartless?" Sora asks.

"Maybe Rahkshi?" Jaller suggests. The thing suddenly gets close enough to them.

"Grab on!" A familiar voice demands before a weird looking stick pops out from edge. Jaller takes it immediately and he, along with Sora, are swung onto the back of Pukku. They can then see who saved them. Takua had come back.

"Well well well, what ever happened to ' I quit'?" Jaller asks.

"I could have, but I didn't." Takua responds. Sora only smiles at his theory being right. Takua then gets grimm. "Bad news. More rahkshi. They've taken Onu-koro."

"The mask of light was never at Onu-koro." Jaller states.

"They don't wang the mask, they're looking for the herald." Takua claims.

"You sure they were after the herald?" Jaller asks.

"Oh, yeah! Real sure!" Takua affirms.

"But, Takua, that would imply you are the herald." Sora says.

"Well, maybe I am, and I just couldn't bring myself to admit it." Takua sheepishly replies. "Sorry for leaving you guys."

"Its alright. you came back in the end." Sora says before looking to Jaller.

"I guess he's right. You did come back. And its nice to have you back my friend." Jaller says. The group continue their way up the path and through the mountain until they reach the top and find...

"Kini-nui! The great temple!" Jaller says in awe as the group approaches a large stone craving of a big metal face.

"No way. We've been all over the island just to wind up here!?" Takua exclaims, clearly disappointed.

"Why not? It's a special place." Jaller says.

"I think it looks cool." Sora comments. Jaller shoots him a thumbs up in response to this.

"Are you sure this thing is working right?" Takua asks before grabbing the mask and shaking it furiously. After doing this, the mask begins to glow more brightly before shooting a beam of light at the stone head, destroying a small portion of it. "Opps."

"Whoa! What did you do!?" Jaller asks. After the chaos has settled, Jaller speaks again. "This is it. The seventh toa must be here." Three creatures of red, white, and black appear amidst the rubble. "Rahkshi! Gimme the mask." Jaller takes it from Takua.

"Jaller, no! We both know the mask chose me. I'm the true herald." Takua protests.

"Are you sure? Even now?" Jaller asks.

"Yes I'm am the herald." Takua takes back the mask. "And I say run!" The three turn and run away from the rahkshi, only to meet with the three rahkshi they previously encountered.

"Now what?" Jaller says as he takes out his short sword. Then, a large dark creature materializes nearby.

"Uh... what is that?" Takua fearfully asks.

"It's a darkside!" Sora exclaims as he summons his keyblade. Just then, a bright light shines off in the distance as three more figures appear. Sora recognizes one of them as toa Lewa. The other two were red and blue. The three jumped down and pulled out their weapons, the red one's being two fire themed swords while the blue one's were two small axes.

"Toa! Great! You can get us out of here!" Takua exclaims.

"We are done running." The red bionicle says. (The most most recognizable name in the franchise.) Then, the ground begins rumbling. A hand pops out of the ground near the matoran and out of it pops three more toa, one of them being Kopaka while the other two were black and brown. The brown one had what looked like double bladed knives while the black one was lacking a weapon. (Mata Nui knows why he doesn't have his chainsaws.)

"Brothers, we thought we lost you." The blue one says.

"And you might of, if it weren't for our icey friend." Black indicates Kopaka.

"Now, as one!" The red one commands, Sora guessed this was the Tahu that Jaller was talking about earlier. The six then form a shield, deflecting a blast from one of the groups of rahkshi. "We will not be broken."

This reminded Sora of the time in the keyblade grave yard where everyone (minus Kairi) had come together to help defeat Xehanort. The toa displayed the same teamwork as they did. As they leapt into battle, Sora thought it best he deal with the heartless.

"Jaller, watch Takua. I'm gonna take down that darkside." Sora declares before leaping in towards it. The darkside smashes its fist into the ground, creating some kind of dark vortex around it. Sora begins hitting its immobile arm until it is pulled out of the ground. Sora then switches to his "Memory" keyblade and form changes it to it's plasma pistol mode where he unloads plasma into the darksides head effortlessly defeating it. "Man, these guys are a joke now adays." Sora comments. He looks over to see the toa have finished with defeating the rahkshi too. Well, most of them.

The red rahkshi gets back up from being immobilized by Gali earlier. It sets its sights on Jaller and Takua, firing a fear blast that hits Takua. Takua is paralyzed by fear and can do nothing as the rahkshi moves in for the killing blow, however Jaller leaps into the way, hugging onto the rahkshi's staff and seemingly being affected by the fear emanating from it. The rahkshi the throws Jaller away like trash. Takua runs up to him.

"I'm supposed to make the sacrifice." Takua says as he cradles his friend.

"No. The duty was mine." Jaller takes the mask of light and gives it to Takua. "You'll know who you are. You were always different." Jaller then limps as his heart light fades. Sora and the toa can only watch as Jaller dies. Sora would be crying of matoran could cry. He made so many new friends today and still was unable to save many of them. First Kairi, then Church, then Skids, Ravage, and now Jaller. Sora only comes back to reality when he notices Takua is glowing. He is wearing the mask of light! Takua glows even more brightly as his limbs extend and the kohli stick in his hand shifts into a scythe. His colour scheme reverts to a white and gold with silver as opposed to his red and blue. Then his transformation was complete.

"I am Takanuva! Toa of light!" Takanuva declares his new name. He then fires off a beam of light, disintegrating the rahkshi. He then fires a second one at the stone head, destroying it and turning it his own face from when he was a matoran. He then stashes his scythe on his back and carries Jaller's body through the group to be quickly buried.

**Elsewhere**

**"So, it has begun my brother. Even without the help of these new shadow rahi, it will soon end."**

**Back to the group**

Jaller had been quickly buried while some more people had shown up. They didn't look like matoran, so Sora assumed they were the turaga that Jaller was talking about. Takanuva was looking at Jallers mask as the orange turaga began walking towards him.

"All this? Just to discover who I am?" Takanuva questions.

"You have finally found your own story." orange comments. "And still you seek answers. Mata Nui is wiser than all, the path you walked was not be here but HERE!" He uses his staff to point to Takanuva's heart. "You understand. Your destiny is clear."

"My duty is clear. Jallers sacrifice will not be in vain." Takanuva says before leaving the turaga with Sora.

"Ah, you must be the one from my vision." He says, approaching Sora.

"Um, excuse me?" Sora asks.

"You are the one from another dimension who is here on his own quest for light." He says. Sora can only drop his jaw at how he knew despite not meeting. "Worry, not. I will not tell the others. I am turaga Vakama." He introduces.

"I'm Sora." Sora says, quickly overcoming his initial shock.

"Curious, you don't have a kanohi Olmak on your person. How did you get here?" Vakama asks.

"Oh, I used the keyblade." Sora says, summoning it to show him.

"Strange. I have never encountered a weapon like this before. Careful, I sense it is a powerful artifact, best not to let the Makuta have it." Vakama says.

"Oh he can't. Only I can wield kingdom key here." Sora assures.

"I see. Now I sense something is troubling you?" Vakama says.

"Uh, yes sir." Sora sighs. "It's just, very recently all I've been able to do is watch my friends die. Before I even got here I lost four other good friends. The first is actually why I'm here."

"I see." Vakama says. "I can sense the second made his choice while three and four's time simply came. But what of one? could you tell me about them?"

"She is Kairi and she was struck down by another force of darkness. I know she can be saved, is just need to find where her heart fled to." Sora says.

"Hmmm, I sensed a similar fate for young Jaller. But how he will return if he even does, I do not know." Vakama says. "I ask you to stay for the final confrontation with the Makuta. It is Takanuva's destiny to fight with him, but that does not mean we cannot be supportive." He asks.

"Of coarse. I'll always stand by a friend." Sora says.

"I am happy to here that. Now, let us go with the others." Vakama says before the two do just that.

The toa nuva had finished building some sort of vehicle out of the remaining rahkshi parts as the two arrived.

"Not much room in this transport, where will we all sit brother?" The brown toa, Pohatu, asks.

"You won't. You shall not join me." Takanuva states.

"But united our power defeated the rahkshi!" Pohatu argues.

"Yes, it will certainly take nothing less to defeat the Makuta." Tahu agrees.

"I have but one destiny. Yours lie with the matoran and the turaga. Gather them and wait for my return." Takanuva orders before hopping on his transport and ridding it down the hole Kopaka, Pohatu, and the black toa, Onua, came from. Down towards his destiny.

After awhile of waiting, a blue matoran crawls out of the hole Takanuva went in. She was carrying Jallers mask which was placed on the hover vehicle earlier.

"I bring word from Takanuva." She says. "He wants us to follow. We are to awaken Mata Nui today!" Everyone gasps at the news and begins discussing, well, anything!

The "A light among the shadows." Vakama whispers. "The prophecy is fulfilled! We must go!" A brown turaga approaches Vakama.

"If we descend into those tunnels ,we may never return!" He brings up. Everyone then begins arguing over weather to go down or not.

"Friends!" The blue matoran calls out.

"Silence!" Vakama orders.

"This island is a great and wonder-us place. Never have any been as blessed as we are to live in such a paradise." She continues. "I loved my home, and Jaller loved it too. But above all, Jaller respected his duty. Let us repay him by doing our duty. Let us remember him by fulfilling our destiny."

"She's right!" Sora calls out. "If it were anyone of us, Jaller would be down there in a heartbeat. I understand you have doubts about confronting the big bad. So did I when I confronted mine back home. But we need to be there for others who for sure will be there to fight it and for people who can't fight it. Takanuva is counting on us. Even if I might not return, I'm going."

"Let us go forward together! Let us awaken the great spirit!" She finishes. Everyone cheers as the matoran holds up the mask, after it dies down, she makes her way over to Sora. "Thanks, for helping me convince them. I'm Hali."

"I'm Sora." Sora introduces. "Now, lets go help out friend." It was hard, but the group scaled down the hole to the bottom where a long corridor awaited them. They easily walked through and arrived at the Makuta's base. The door was destroyed, so the group just walked in. Inside it was dark and possibly foggy with what looked like some sort of green pillars holding up the place. Sora wondered if Xehanort and/or any of organization 13 would hang out here if given the chance.

**"An audience gathers for your final failure, toa of light."** A dark voice says. Sora then sees the Makuta, a behemoth of a robot carrying some sort of spear and armour looking to be an extremely dark red with some green added in. If Makuta were a word, intimidating would be it in every sense.

"Maybe they will not see me win today, but the matoran will go on, and some day they will triumph!" Takanuva declares.

**"You actually believe I would let them return?"** Makuta asks Takanuva before launching some sort of shadow ball at the entrance, collapsing it and sealing off their only means of escape. **"They will not leave." **Makuta declares. Takanuva dives down from a pillar towards the Makuta. He fires a shadow ball at the toa intended to destroy him, but he catches it with his scythe, turning it into a light ball, before doing a flip and launching it back at the Makuta, sending him flying away down one of his halls.

Once this is over, everyone gathers round to make sure the Makuta is defeated. However, he begins to rise again.

**"Well played toa." **He says as he makes it to his feet. **"Now, I will protect Mata Nui from you." **Protect him? Sora thinks. Thankfully Takanuva expresses this for him.

"Protect him?"

**"Sleep spares him pain. Awake, he suffers." **Makuta explains.

"You are not protecting him!" Takanuva shouts.

**"My duty is to the mask of shadows." **Makuta declares. Takanuva puts away his scythe.

"Then lets take a closer look, behind that mask!" He declares before leaping at the Makuta, trying to remove his mask as the opposition attempts to prevent him from doing so. Eventually the two fall into a pool of some sort of silver liquid. What emerges shocks them all. It was Takanuva and Makuta fused together.

"Mata nui!" Vakama exclaims. The mask of shadows and light were two halves joined together to make a single mask. The being had Makuta's legs and torso while having Takanuva's arms.

**"Light has revealed the will of Mata Nui! Our brother must be awakened!"** It booms. Even though its voice was a mixture of Takanuva and Makuta, Sora could tell that, thankfully, Takanuva was in control. The being hoists up a door and uses its body to keep it up while everyone else ran inside. **"Hold little one." **It says to Hali. **"That mask needs life." **Sora watches as Hali hands over Jallers mask. It then somehow begins to revive Jaller using the mask, rematerializing his body into it somehow.

"I have seen many things, but I don't think I've seen anything like that." Sora says as Jallers heart-light turns back on and he awakens.

"Jaller." Hali whispers as she hoists him up. It then becomes clear that Takanuva can't hold the door open much longer. The three move away to a safe distance as he struggles.

"Get out of there!" Jaller exclaims but it is too late. The door has collapsed on top of Takanuva, killing him and Makuta. His mask slides out as the dust settles.

"This can't be it for Takanuva!" Sora exclaims.

"It is not." Vakama says as he takes the mask. "Come." He motions them to follow into the next room. "Let us awaken the great spirit." One the floor is the same symbol that the silver water made up in the Makuta's domain while on the wall is a large carving of the kanohi hau (which just so happened to be the mask Jaller is wearing). Vakama directs Hali over unto one of the three circles. "Unity." He says as light surrounds her. He then puts Jaller on the circle farthest from her. "Duty." Jaller is surrounded by light. He then places the mask on the centre circle. "Destiny!" The mask begins spinning as light surrounds it. The light then forms into a toa nuva body and fades to reveal Takanuva.

"How?" Sora asks.

"I think, Mata Nui is not done with dear Takanuva yet. He still has something to do, whatever it maybe, he's here." Vakama answers.

"Your alive!" Jaller exclaims. "Kohli head, you cold have been Makuta bummed."

"Could have been, but I'm not." Takanuva says. A gate then opens from within the stone mask that leads to the outside, unto the Ta-wahi beach.

"Well, I guess this is it. The Makuta is defeated so what now?" Jaller asks as they reach the surface.

"Prepare the boats. It is time we return." Vakama says.

"Return? Where?" Hali asks.

"Why, Metru Nui." Vakama answers. "Gather all the matoran on the island, We have a story to tell everyone." The toa leave to do as their turaga asks.

"Hey, since we're done with our quest we can help you with yours now." Jaller tells Sora.

"Thanks guys. But you can't come with me." Sora says.

"What, why not?" Jaller asks.

"Its my duty not to reveal anything about that Jaller, I'm sorry. Besides, it seems you have somewhere else to go." Sora says.

"But you were there for us so we need to be there for you." Jaller argues.

"You will always be with me, in my heart, just like I will always be with you." Sora says. Jaller takes a moment before answering.

"I guess so. I wish you complete your quest Sora."

"As do I." Hali says.

"I think its safe to say everyone here wishes you well." Takanuva says. "Also, before you go take this key chain I found in the Makuta's lair. I think its mean't for your keyblade." He hands him a keychain that has the strange symbol on it from earlier.

"Thanks." Sora says as he accepts the keychain. He then turns to walk into the charred forest of Ta-koro.

"Sora, you will find your light. I know it." Takanuva calls out to him.

"Thanks! We'll meet again. I promise." Sora calls out before disappearing into the forest. Once the group is out of eyesight, Sora creates another portal taking him to a new world. After he leaves a ta-matoran pops out from one of the trees. He had a pakari and was entirely red and more importantly, had seen the whole thing.

"Well, you don't see that every day." He says before walking out of the forest.

**Location: ?**

**"Another key bearer is coming. This is going much better than anticipated. Soon I will be free!" **


	6. Search for Sora

Kairi could see the top of the ship through the foliage as she carried the child over to it. When the rest of it is within sight, Kairi sees a man in full body armour shooting at multiple shadow heartless. Kairi then, slowly, puts the child down.

"I'm going to go help him. Those are dangerous creatures, so please stay here while I go." Kairi tells it before summoning Destiny's Embrace and running into the battle.

* * *

Mando was able to hold back the shadows with pinpoint persuasion and the use of his flamethrowers. However, more seemed to keep spawning. At one point, Mando swore there were triple the amount that there originally was.

At some point, Mando notices a girl enter the battle dressed in pink and armed with a weird vibro weapon. She seemed to have an easier time with the beasts then he did, but due to also simultaneously fighting the creature while observing her, he couldn't tell for sure. As the fight drew on, he found that most of the creatures seemed to be focusing on the girl. In fact around seven-eighths of the creatures were attacking her.

After finishing his small amount, Mando burns half the pack focused on the girl since they were so densely packed. After this, the girl somehow summons lightning from the sky to strike the remaining shadows into non-existence. After this she calls out behind her.

"Its safe now. You can come out." And out of a bush nearby, the child walks out. Seeing the child fills Mando with relief but also fills him with another thought. The girl was able to summon lightning somehow. Maybe she knew about the child's weird powers.

"Hey." Mando starts. "Thank you."

"Your welcome. I'm Kairi." The girl holds her hand out.

"Just call me Mando." Mando shakes her hand. "Thanks for lookin out for the kid."

"Of coarse. Say, can I ask for a favour?" Kairi asks.

"What is it." Mando says as he picks up the child.

"Could you take me to a different world?" She asks. Mando thinks about it. The hunters would probably be here soon, so maybe it would be best to get a move on, and taking the girl with him for one trip couldn't hurt.

"Where too?" He asks.

"I don't know exactly what the planets name is, all I know it has a sight on it called the keyblade graveyard." She responds. Keyblade graveyard? The hell is a keyblade? And more importantly, who wouldn't know the name of the planet they were going to. Sensing they would both have questions, Mando decided to invite her inside.

"Come in. We'll talk about it." Mando says before walking into the ship with the child and Kairi following behind.

Inside, the two sit down and Mando types 'keyblade graveyard' unto his nav-computer. After this the two begin with their questions.

"Before we begin. I want to ask you some questions." Mando says.

"Uh, sure." Kairi responds.

"Earlier you were able to summon lightning. Are their others that can do this?" Mando asks. After a moment of throught, Kairi responds.

"Yes. There are others."

"How did you get these powers?" He asks.

"Though there are other ways to get them, I got mine through the keyblade." Kairi answers. There was that word again.

"Keyblade?" Mando asks.

"This." Kairi materializes said keyblade into her hand, and only just then Mando noticed it was gone during their conversation.

"May I see it?" He asks.

"Sure. Thing is, you will only be able to look for awhile. The keyblade tends to not like being held by a non keyblade wielder." Kairi warns before handing him the weapon. The key was not made of vibro like Mando initially thought. It was made of some smooth metal that he could quite place on what exact metal it was. The flowers on the end were the same as the rest of the blade, made of metal. It seemed rather light, so that likely meant what you see is what you get. No inner workings to look at. The keyblade then disappears from Mando's hand in a flash of light and reforms back into Kairi's. "See what I mean." Kairi laughs.

"The reason I ask is because this little one is able to perform... magic." Mando indicates the child, who is starring at the two intensely. "I don't know what to make of it."

"What can it do?" Kairi asks.

"It can move objects with its mind. Yesterday it was able to hold back those shadow creatures, and long before that it was able lift a mudhorn off the ground." Mando explains. "It always seems really tired after it does this."

* * *

Kairi thinks for a moment. No magic was able to lift living beings off the ground, she assumed the mudhorn was an animal of some sort, but then again she didn't know that much about magic.

"I don't think I know about it. From what I know, we can't move objects with our minds." She explains.

"You don't think?" Mando asks.

"My training was only recently completed. I only know the most basic of spells." Kairi explains. Mando seems to think for a bit before responding.

"Maybe when we find these others you're searching, maybe then can I find answers." Mando responds.

"Of coarse." Kairi reply's. Mando looks back to the computer leaving Kairi with her thoughts. She couldn't even answer some simple questions. She thinks to herself, still thinking of her uselessness. The Mandalorian then turns back to her.

"There is no record of any keyblade graveyard in any data banks." Mando responds. "Why exactly are you looking for this graveyard?"

"Well..." Kairi starts off. "I was last there with my friends. The others I was talking about. I was with them and all of a sudden I wake up here with no idea of how I got here."

"So, you were kidnapped." Mando says.

"I think so. I remember someone grabbing me, and then nothing." Kairi says.

"You were likely taken by Trandosians." Mando says.

"Trandosians?" Kairi asks.

"Lizard looking people who go across the galaxy kidnapping people to hunt them for sport. What I don't get is why the dropped you off here and not have taken you to Trandosia to be hunted like everyone else." Mando explains. "Maybe one of your friends are there." He then gets up from his seat, closes the door, and then heads up a ladder. The child tries to follow, so Kairi picks it up and heads up the ladder herself.

When she gets up there, she finds that this room is the cockpit, judging by the large window, and the many different computers and consoles. She puts the child on a chair to her right and then sits on the chair to the left.

"What are you doing?" Kairi asks.

"Taking off." Mando answers. "We're going to Trandosia."

"Oh. Why help me? I was told I would have to pay you." Kairi asks.

"No offense, but you look like you don't have a lot of credits on you. Someone helping me understand the child's powers will be payment enough. And besides, I can't stay in one place for too long." Mando responds as the ship lifts off the ground and heads for the sky.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is that?" Kairi nervously asks. She then sees that they have reached space. Mando flicks a few switches and then pulls a lever causing the stars the look warped. Then the ship seems to enter a wormhole of some kind.

Mando then turns his chair to face Kairi. "Hunters are after the kid. Some imperial wants it. I don't know for what but it probably isn't good."

"Oh. So your like its dad?" Kairi asks.

"No. I just look after it. It was alone when I found it. Don't know why, only knew some droid was trying to kill it." Mando says. "I don't even know what I'm going to do with the thing. We just kind of... stick together." Mando then turns back to the controls, and Kairi who now doesn't know how to respond stays silent as she watches them exit the wormhole. There lies another planet, this time with multiple moons surrounding it.

"If dangerous lizard people live here, shouldn't we, you know, not bring the kid here?" Kairi asks.

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But if we're being hunted, then it would throw them off going to a dirt hole like Trandosia." Mando explains. "Wouldn't be the first time he was surrounded by dangerous people." The ship then begins to approach one of the moons. "We'll need to be quick. I don't want to get spotted by any of the hunters or get my ship stolen."

"I understand." Kairi says.

"Good." Mando says as they touch down. "From now on, you do as I say exactly how I say it. I don't need you to end up dead."

"Relax. I've been in dangerous environments before." Kairi shrugs off. The original organizations castle comes to mind.

"I doubt its anything like this place." Mando responds as he gets up and exits the cockpit. "Come. Bring the kid." Mando responds. Kairi does so, still getting happy from seeing its cute face. She brings it down to the hull where Mando has some kinda space locker open. From the blankets spread around the base of it, Kairi could only guess that it was what served as the child's room. She places the child inside.

Mando then looks at the child. "Okay, don't move. Kairi and I are going to look around for any of her friends. You. Stay. Here."

The child continues to stare at Mando.

"Good." Mando says. Kairi couldn't help but find the interaction really adorable. "Come on. Lets look around for your friends."

The two walked through the beach in silence, looking for any sign of life. All they came across were dead bodies and a destroyed ship. Kairi was disturbed when they came across the skeletons or recently rotting bodies of those slain by the trandosians, though luckily she was good at hiding her disgust or the Mandalorian just didn't care. Eventually, said Mandalorian breaks the silence.

"Non of the bodys we found are your friends, and there is no one else alive here. I don't think the trandosians took your friends." He says. Kairi sighs sadly at the facts. 'What now' Is all Kairi can think of at the moment. "We should return to the Razor Crest." The two begin walking back to where they parked when Kairi heres a noise off in the distance.

"Wait! Do you hear that?" Kairi exclaims. Mando stops for a moment to listen in. After a few seconds of listening Mando yells.

"Take cover!" Before diving behind the weird trees that covered the beach before a laser blast hits him. Kairi does the same though no laser blast is fired at her. Looking into the sky, Kairi then sees some weird floating platform maned by two armed lizard people. Figuring these were the trandosians Mando was talking about, Kairi summons Destinys Embrace and readies herself for whatever the hunters have prepared for them.

The platform opens fire on the group with the large chain-gun attached to the hull. They fire wildly pinning down both Kairi and Mando.

"You will make a fine prize, Mandalorian!" One of the Trandosians exclaims. While the platform continues to open fire, Mando holsters his blaster and readies his rifle.

"That things gotta run out of ammo, right?" Kairi asks.

"Not for a few hours. Listen if you can get the speeder to turn around I can take out the drivers." Mando says.

"I'll see what I can do." Kairi says before turning to peer around the other side of the tree she's hiding behind. She spies some debris from the wreckage of a ship, but its quite a distance away. Thinking that if she is quick enough, she can make it behind a piece and draw the hunters attention. She makes a dash for the debris, running as fast as her legs would allow her. However one of the Trandosians, the sniper, notices her and aims his rifle. He fires and just barley misses. Thinking fast, Kairi fires a blizzara a the speeder, causing it to stagger and turn towards her. It opens fire just as she reaches the debris. All that Kairi can hear now is laser fire and the Trandosians arguing, though she can't tell over what. She takes a peak behind cover just in time to see the driver disintegrate into ash. The speeder goes wild and throws the remaining Trandosian off before crashing into the sand.

Kairi slowly comes out of cover to fully see the results. Seeing as how nothing is moving, she makes her way back to the Mandalorian when the sniper Trandosian quickly gets up, raises his rifle and fires. The movement is so quick, Kairi barely blocks the shot with her keyblade, but the sudden force knocks her down.

"Not quite a Mandalorian, but you'll do just fine." He says as he approaches the stunned Kairi. Before he can do anything to her, a laser blast burns through his chest and he falls in front of Kairi. She looks at the source of the blast to see Mando holstering his pistol. He then walks up to Kairi and offers a hand up. She accepts.

"Not bad." He compliments. "Back to the Razor Crest now. We've been gone long enough." The two head back to the ship and are welcomed by the child upon their return. Seeing the child lifts Kairi's spirits a bit. As she plays with the child, Mando heads straight to a computer and began typing something on it.

* * *

'No progress on trandosia.' Mando thinks as he selects his desired option on the Navi-computer. He begins downloading the entire database unto a data pad. Have Kairi look over it, she'll know where to find the sorcerers. He hands her the data pad.

"Look through this. It has all the planets in the galaxy and a short description of them. Maybe it will tell you where to go." He says. She takes it and looks it over. Very quickly she is brought with a confused face.

"Uh, I can't read this language. Is there an english option?" She asks. 'The hell is english?'

"This is galactic basic. Your telling me you can't read that." He says.

"The letters are different from what I understand." She explains. Mando takes back the data pad and switches the language option. Then, the letter convert.

"Hows this?" He asks, handing back the data pad. She looks it over.

"Yes. This I can read." She answers.

"Thats galactic super basic. Its very uncommon used." He explains. 'This girl just keeps getting stranger.' He thinks to himself. "I'm gonna plot a coarse to space station to get fuel. You find out where we're going." He then makes his way up the ladder to the cockpit.

* * *

There were tons of planets on this thing. Kairi wasn't sure if she would get through them all before reaching the space station. She begins browsing around. First the big names: Coruscant, Naboo, Alderran ,to name a few though the last entry was said to be destroyed. She then moved to lower class planets; Felucia, Ryloth, Rodia. She stopped when finding a planet called Scarif. It was said to be a planet filled with strings of islands, much like Destiny Islands. If she was delivered there, she could find her way back. However, it also stated that ever since the Empire, it was nothing more than a wasteland, killing her thoughts pf relief.

That reminded her, she was going to have to read up on this Empire. It seemed like it was something big that happened to the galaxy and just asking about it might make people think suspiciously that she never heard of something as big as whatever it is. She continues searching until she comes across another planet: Jedda. It was said to be a rocky wasteland. A battlefield as it was called. 'This must be the keyblade grave yard.' Kairi thinks. It matches the description perfectly.

"Second times the charm right?" She asks the child who only smiles at her. She heads up the ladder and goes through the door to the cockpit. The Mandalorian is just docking into the station as she arrives.

"What do you got?" He asks.

"A planet called Jedda has a similar description to the Keyblade Graveyard." She says.

"Jedda? Sounds like it alright." He says as he gets out of the pilots chair. "I'm gonna go pay for the fuel. Keep an eye on the kid." He says.

"Will do." Kairi responds. She follows Mando downstair where he exits the ship. Kairi finds the child trying to make its way into its room. Smiling at the adorable scene it is creating, She opens the locker and lifts the child into it. "So, Mando says you have powers to lift objects with your mind, huh?" The child can only nod as it makes a baby noise with it. "I don't know about that but maybe my friends do. They can help you if we find them." The child gives her its full attention. "So, where did Mando find you?" She asks. She was unsure how to keep the conversation going, being that the child couldn't talk. Another question that entered her mind was what the child's name is. Mando never called it by name.

* * *

As Mando walked out of the ship, he saw some mechanisms plug in his ship to be fuelled. He walks up to a droid to which he's supposed to pay.

"Fuel on 15." Mando says to him.

"Dock 15. Yes, and thats a full tank?" It asks him.

"Yes." Mando simply replies, handing over the required credits,

"Thank you. That will be all, unless there is something else you want." The droid says.

"Not today." Mando replies before heading back to his ship. In all honesty, he just wanted to get the hell away from the droid, didn't trust it. He boards his ship, and after awhile takes off. He relays in the coordinates to Jedda. Hopefully this time will bring them more luck.

* * *

Elsewhere on the station, a droid with a bug looking head and a protocol droids body all painted in a dark grey, watches the Razor Crest take off. He takes out a tracking fob and confirms it's his target. He readies his own ship, an old Magna-guard star-fighter, from the clone wars, ready to pursue. There is a bounty on this Mandalorian and its cargo. And 4-LOM is going to collect.

* * *

Upon arriving at Jedda, all that could be seen was rock. There was no plant life, no sign of buildings of any kind, and not any kinds of wildlife in sight. 'But this has to be the place.' Kairi thinks. She just has to find the area where all the key blades were stuck into the ground. The ship continues fly over the surface while to two continue to look for anything, but sadly, nothing.

"I hope you know what we're looking for." Mando says, impatience clear in his voice.

"We're looking for a whole field of key blades wedged into the ground like tombstones." Kairi explains, still not taking her eyes off the endless amounts of nothing.

"I'm sure if there was something like that, the data base would know about it." Mando says. "I don't think its here. In fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist."

"It does exist!" Kairi shouts. "I was there before I was taken!"

"Calm down, kid. It could just be on a different planet. Geonosis is also a wasteland with no life like this." Mando says. Just then, an explosion shakes out from the back of the ship, rattling the three inside. The child lets out a concerned noise that almost sounds like crying.

"What was that?!" Kairi exclaims.

"Someones behind us! They're trying to shoot us down!" Mando exclaims. " I have a plan, but we're gonna have to be on the ground to do it. I need a distraction to land safely."

"Okay, what did you have in mind?" Kairi asks.

"Do you have any experience in fighting on fast moving vehicles?" Mando asks.

"I'll see what I can do." Kairi says before leaving the cockpit.

"She didn't answer the question." Kairi overhears Mando telling the child. Truth was, she didn't have any experience in that, but did she have much of a choice. She opens the main door of the ship and a large blast of air hits her, pulling her outward from the ship. Kairi remains grounded however and slowly makes her way outside. She looks behind the ship to find the ship attacking them. It was noticeably smaller than their and more jagged looking, and it was still trying to shoot at them.

Kairi then begins looking at the Razor Crest, looking for a way to get atop the ship. She try's jumping and using an aero spell to get higher, but when she jumps, she flys off the ship and hits the wing, ironically getting on top.

"Ow... not as planned." Kairi mutters as she recovers. She looks back at the enemy ship to find it still firing at them. She then gets up and casts a thunder spell, hitting the ship and sending it down.

* * *

"Heh, that actually wen't pretty well." Mando says as he sets the Razor Crest down. When he does so he quickly gets up from the pilots chair. "Stay here." He quickly tells the child. He makes his way down to the landing ramp and attaches his pulse rifle to his back as he exits. He then sees Kairi jump down from the ship. "Nice job." He compliments.

"I would be lying if I said it went off perfectly." Kairi says, massaging her back.

"Lets go investigate the crash." Mando says. They had landed not far from the crash so it was an easy walk. When they got there, they noticed the cockpit was smashed from the inside out. "Take cover!" Mando yells. The two duck behind the ship but no attack comes. Mando uses his thermal vision to see where the pilot may have gone, but he receives nothing.

"I have nothing on thermal, you wouldn't happen to have some sort of find person magic on you?" He asks.

"No. I think we'll just have to wait until he-" Kairi is cut off as a laser blast misses her face by only two inches to the left. "-makes a move first." She finishes. Mando then takes out his pulse rifle.

"Please tell me you have some sort of force field casting thing." Mando says.

"I actually do." Kairi admits.

"Alright. Use it on me. I'll take care of our sniper." He orders. Kairi casts another one of her spells and Mando stands upright and aims his rifle down to where the shot last came. Once the shooter is in sight, they both fire at the same time. The spell protects Mando, however, the other person isn't so lucky. "Quickly." Mando runs towards the shooter with Kairi following.

When the group gets there, they see a downed droid. 'The next part will be all the easier.' Mando thinks as he unholsters his blaster. The droid looks at the group.

"Interesting." It says.

"Really? The interesting part hasn't started yet." Mando says as he aims his blaster at its head.

"No. I find your companion interesting. I've already alerted all other hunters of her. There will be no where to run. You and your friend will die unless you give up the target." It says. Mando then mercilessly blasts it, permanently offlining it.

The two then make their way back to the ship, the child greets them as they enter into the cockpit. Mando pays it little mind while Kairi gives it her attention. Mando looks through the damage report to find that the coolant was ruptured. This would limit their ability to get off Jedda, but left unattended, it would be a problem soon enough. He then readies the ship for take off and exits the atmosphere.

"So, to this Geonosis then?" Kairi asks.

"No. The Razor Crest is damaged, and what I have won't be enough to cover the cost of fixing it. So we're gonna get a quick job to get it fixed." Mando explains.

"What kind of job?" Kairi hesitantly asks.

"We won't know until we see what there is to do." He answers. "I'm setting coarse for Polis Massa. It recently became a base for the bounty hunters guild, though some don't go there often. Its perfect to get work while avoiding more hunters." Once the coordinates are layed in, Mando makes the jump to hyperspace. "Come down here, bring the child." Mando says as he gets out of the chair.

* * *

Kairi picks up the child and follows. She really didn't like the sound of finding a job near the Mandalorian line of work. What if they were sent to kill someone. She shakes this thought as she gets to the lower floor. Mando is standing near the open locker which was the child's room.

"First, its bed time for that thing." He says. Kairi then places the child in its room.

"Have a nice sleep." Kairi smiles.

"Goodnight you little womp-rat." Mando says before closing the locker. Kairi watches as he walks to a different locker on the ship. This one looked more traditional then the futuristic opening door fo the childs room. There, Mando takes out what looks likes some kind of leather armour but she can't tell for sure. "But this on." He throws the clothes to her.

"Wha- why?" Kairi asks.

"The pink makes you stand out to much, and we don't want to attract attention. And besides, it will offer up more protection then what you're wearing." He says before leaving for the cockpit. Kairi couldn't really deny any of those points besides the fact that her current clothes did serve as protection against the darkness, even though she didn't need it since she is immune. She decides that it would be possible and best to simple put it on overtop her current garments. The once she does this, she looks in the mirror which was conveniently in the same room as her. She looked like a real mercenary. 'I guess thats the point' she thinks as she makes her way up to the cockpit. 'Now the only thing I have to worry about is this job' She thinks as she enters the cockpit.

When she does, she sees the Mandalorian just putting his helmet back on.

"We're coming up on Polis massa. Its a base on an astroid near the Mustafar system. Not many know of its existence. It was once a base for the rebellion back when they were fighting the Empire. It was abandoned just before the battle of Jakku." He explains before the ship drops out of hyperspace. Kairi can then see, in the field of astroids, a building built onto one of said astroids. This is Polis massa. The Razor Crest makes it way towards the facility and lands inside one of the many hangers it has.

"Well, lets get started." Kairi breathes.


	7. Lets Just Live

Coming out of the portal, Sora finds himself in yet another forest. He looks down to his hands to confirm he is back to his regular appearance and no longer a robot of any kind. Now, where to begin with this world? The question answers itself as Sora hears what sounded like a fight going on nearby. He rushes in the direction of the sound to find multiple neoshadow heartless. That isn't the thing that catches his attention though, it was the four people fighting them.

The first was a girl with short black hair with red tips, a red cloak, and fought with what looked to be a mechanical scythe. The second was a guy with blonde hair and armoured up similar to a knight. To go along with this, he also had a traditional looking sword and shield. The third was a girl with mostly pink attire with some white and dark blue thrown in, who carried a mechanical looking hammer. The last was a boy with long black hair, dressed in green, and carried two green pistols with blades attached to the bottom of the barrels.

"What kinda grimm are these? We've never seen them before." The knight asked as he blocked one of the neoshadows attacks with his shield.

"I don't know. I never encountered any grimm like these before. In fact, I don't think anyone has fought anything like these things before." Green answers.

"It doesn't matter. They're still grimm and they're still a threat so lets take them out." Red exclaims. Right after she says this, more neoshadows spawn around the group, surrounding them.

"Yeah! More to smash!" pink exclaims.

"Glad to see your excited Nora, but the fact remains that we are probably all going to die!" Knight yells at her. A neoshadow lunges at the two, so Sora decides to make his entrance, summoning Kingdom Key and leaping over to it and striking it, defeating it, and landing with the others.

"Don't worry. We can defeat them." Sora assures.

"Wha? Where did you come from?" Red asks.

"Get back to it later." Green quickly says before everyone else readys for battle. Sora fights his group of neoshadows with just basic slashes and jabs and the fight is over very quickly. For the others, not so much but they do hold their own. After the fight is over they all regroup.

"Who are you?" Red asks.

"I'm Sora, and who might you all be?" Sora asks.

"I'm Ruby Rose." Red says.

"Jaune Arc." Knight says.

"Nora Valkerie." Pink says.

"Lie Ren." Green says. "Do you know anything about those weird grimm that attacked us?"

"Those are the heartless." Sora quickly explains.

"Hmmm, never heard of a heartless type of grimm before." Jaune says.

"Grimm?" Sora asks.

"Yeah, you know how grimm have those bone like masks for faces. These guys don't also, sometimes they'd sink into the ground into dark pools of something. Wasup with that?" Nora says. 'I wonder if these grimm are related to the heartless in some way?' Sora thinks.

"So, Sora, what are you doing far from the kingdoms?" Ruby asks.

"I'm looking for a friend that got lost." Sora replies.

"Oh, how so?" Ruby asks.

"The circumstances are really complicated. Even I don't get some of it. What are you guys doing out here?" Sora asks.

"You know about the fall of beacon?" Jaune asks, the tone going downward from light hearted to serious.

"Uh, no?" Sora responds. The four shoot him a look saying 'are you serious?'

"Where I'm from, we don't, uh, get news that often." Sora adds. the group seem to by that and continue.

"One of the primary huntsman academy's, Beacon, was attacked and fell during the Vital festival." Ren explains.

"We think they are going to hit Haven academy over in Mistal, so we are going over to help stop them!" Nora exclaims. Sora pretended that this all made sense to him.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Ruby asks. "You might find your friend along the way."

"That sounds good. Its always better to travel with friends." Sora accepts.

"We're gonna have to get back to work on the team name." Nora deflates.

"Team name?" Sora asks.

"Yeah, we're team RNJR! Took me awhile to arrange the first letters of our names to make something cool!" Nora says.

"I suggested RNJR, you suggested JNRR." Ren deadpans.

"Irrelevant. Now I have to work an S in there." Nora complains.

"Don't worry about it. RNJR sounds like a nice team name, you should keep it the way it is." Sora says, not wanting to cause trouble. He did admit that the way the team names were constructed were pretty cool, and that he would have to do that with his friends when he got back, if the chance arose.

"Should we get going now?" Ren asks.

"Of coarse!" Nora exclaims. The group begin walking through the forest, towards Mistal.

The group had stopped off at a village to rest for the night, and before long, they were back on the road towards Mistral. It was a few hours in when the five came across what seemed like a village.

"That's strange I didn't think we would be hitting a village for a few days." Jaune said with some confusion. Nora, who was on a wood pole looking at the village, then spoke up.

"Are those buildings... damaged?" the team began looking at each other for a few seconds with concerned faces when Jaune spoke up

"We should search for survivors." Then everyone instinctively ran into the village. Sora looked inside of one of the buildings to find it completely empty no broken building materials no furniture nothing. It was very strange to say the least.

"Anything?" he heard Ruby say

"Nothing over here." He then heard Nora respond. Sora then decided to leave the building to head back to the group.

"No one over here either." He hears Jaune say as he gets back to the group.

"It almost seems like the town was abandoned." Ren spoke up.

"What could cause them to leave?" Sora asks. Everyone then moves to another section of the village when Nora yells

"I think I found something." Everyone moves to her position when she uncovers some plant off a sign.

"Oniyuri... Never heard of it." She says after she fully uncovers it.

"Mean either." Jaune adds.

"I have." Ren speaks. "You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the kingdom was being run. Frustrated with the council they pooled their resources together to build their own city. With their own laws. They hoped that one day it could maybe even become its own kingdom. Many thought it would be the future... I know my parents did."

"Do you know what happened?" Sora asks.

"What always happens." Ren answers.

"The grimm." Jaune answers.

"Not just anyone." Ren says. 'That makes sense, like how there are many types of heartless.' Sora thinks. 'Must have been something like a Darkside or demontide with how bad this sounds.'

"One?" Ruby questions.

"Come on. Lets just get through here. This place gives me the creeps." Jaune says. Sora couldn't agree more. So the group leaves to another section of the village.

As they are making their way through Ren stops in his tracks and signals the rest to stop. He hears something approaching so he takes out storm flower, which signals the rest of team RNJR and Sora to do the same with their own weapons.

Suddenly a man, long brown hair in a braid, cloaked in a brown coat, jumps from over one of the buildings to right in front of the five. They hear a click and suddenly two blades form around the man's arms symbolizing he is going to attack. He makes a beeline for Ruby, but is then stopped by Ren who begins slashing and shooting at him until he is kicked away. Then he starts attacking Ruby until Jaune attempts to intervene. The man plants himself on Jaune's shield and looks at him with fascination. Sora attempts to attack, put the man dodges causing Sora to attack Jaune's shield. Nora moves in only for the man to hop on her hammer and hop away, smashing into a nearby building. When the dust clears, it reveals the man isn't even fazed.

"We're not looking for a fight." Jaune yells

"Who are you?" Ren then asks. The man's smiles and jumps down from his crater.

"Who I am matters not to you or you..." The man says pointing at Ren and Nora before pausing and saying "Well you do interest me." He points to Jaune. The man quickly realizes the mistake and says "no, I only matter to you." He then points past Jaune to Ruby

"Me?" she asks. The man then begins laughing manically

"You haven't the slightest clue, do you." He says "Oh how exciting this must be."

"What do you want?" Ruby says with clear indication she just wanted to get this over with.

"The rose has thorns, my little flower I'm here to whisk you away with me."

"Well what if she doesn't want to go with you." Nora says moving in front of Ruby. The man slumps a little

"Well... I'll take her." He replies back. Then Jaune moves in.

"We're not going to let you do that." He says

"Good." The man says, and then moves with almost sonic speeds behind Jaune to attack

"Jaune!" Ren yells then fires his submachine pistols at Jaune's shield causing them to ricochet of the shield at toward the attacker. He then hops atop Jaune's shield and kicks Ruby away. He then bounces off Sora's keyblade and begins heading for Nora. Then Ruby loads some electricity dust into Crescent Rose and fires. The shot hits Nora. The attacker stops in his tracks and then begins laughing while turning his back to Nora.

"Well isn't that Ironic." He says while unknown to him Nora was getting back up looking quite supercharged.

"How?" Sora whispers.

"Its her semblance." Jaune whispers back.

The man gets the sense that something is wrong and looks behind himself. Seconds before the man is able to see her, Nora moves at fast speeds behind the attacker and slams her hammer onto him. This creates loads of dust that is sent up into the air preventing the group to see. When it clears, it is seen that Nora's hammer was blocked by... a tail?!

"Woah!" Sora exclaims.

"Surprise." The man says before kicking Nora to the side and then jumping onto another building removing his coat so the five could get a good look at his tail.

"He's... a Faunus." Ren says

"What is this about, the white fang? Roman Torchwick?" Ruby asks

"Man, you guys really don't make this easy for newcomers." Sora thinks out loud to himself. 'Then again, what else is new.'

"Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart only belongs to a goddess." The man says

"Cinder." Ruby says with anger

"Only in her wildest dreams." He says before jumping down and engaging in a skirmish with the five, batting away Ruby's scythe and primarily fighting her. He attempts to sting Ren multiple times while knocking away Jaune, Nora, and Sora. Sora wanted to use some of his more powerful ability's, but everyone was getting to close to Tyrian that they ran the risk of friendly fire. After awhile, he knocks everyone away and approaches Ruby, intent to deliver the killing blow. Sora decides this is the time to go full out on Tyrian. Just as he was about to strike Ruby with his tail, Another man, grey clothes, dark red cape, black hair, and a big sword comes through the wall at sonic speeds and defends from the tail strike.

Sora remains still, not sure if this newcomer is a friend or an enemy. He observes as Ruby recognizes the man who saved her

"Hey." he smiles at her. It is clear that this guy is a friend.

The man named Qrow had fought with Tyrian alone. At one point Nora and Ren attempted to help with Sora and Jaune readying to come in after them only for the two to be knocked away and told off my Qrow to stay back. From that point onwards everyone just watched the fight except for Ruby who actively disobeyed her uncles command. This indirectly caused Qrow to be injured cause the battle to come to a complete stop. Except for the part where Ruby cut off Tyrian's tail making him retreat.

"Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?" She asks as Qrow falls to his knees.

"I'll be fine. He just grazed me." Qrow responds.

"Who was that guy?" Nora quickly asks.

"How did you get here?" Ren adds.

"Why are people after Ruby?" Jaune asks.

"Uncle Qrow, what's going on?" Ruby finally asks. After a small pause Qrow asks.

"What's your favourite fairy tail?" He then passes out. Ren checks for his pulse.

"He's still alive. We should get out of here." He says. Sora helps Jaune carry Qrow outside the village where the five make a fire by the time Qrow wakes up. When he does, he tells them a story of a man and four maidens and of how they posses magic. 'Magic isn't a norm here. Got it.' Sora mentally checks himself. He also tells of people who hunted the maidens for the soul purpose of gaining their power.

Everyone looks shocked at the revelation. For Sora though, he was used to situations like these but given how everyone else wasn't he decided to simply look shocked. Sora was a good actor... he thought. Turns out it wouldn't matter because everyone is fixated on Qrow.

"Really, no questions?" He asks.

"Of coarse we have questions, this is just... a lot to take in." Jaune answers.

"Sure. Of coarse." Qrow simply replies.

"So these... maidens. They're powerful fighters, that don't need dust to use magic?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah." Qrow replies.

"And there are four of them?" Nora asks.

"Yup. Always."

"Which mean that whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone, a female, that they care about?" Ren asks.

"Who ever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction." Qrow corrects. "Best option is someone we can trust. Requardless their souls become combined, in a way."

"Thats what you were trying to do to Pyrrha." Jaune says more than asks. "The night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them."

"The previous fall maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant who we now know as Cinder some how managed to steal some of her power but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well." Qrow explains.

"So you forced it on Pyrrha." Jaune accuses.

"We didn't force anything." Qrow says. "We explained the situation and gave her a choice and she chose. You were there, you heard her." Jaune can only turn his back to him after this. "

"One more thing." Sora brings up. "Do we know a specific reason why four powerful people are just walking around? I mean there has to be some other purpose besides power, right?"

"Yes in fact. The maidens can open a vault station in each school. Fall for Beacon, Spring for Haven, Winter for Atlas, and Summer for Shade." Qrow explains.

"Whats-" Ren begins to ask but is stopped by Ruby.

"That guy, Tyrian, Why was he after me?" She asks.

"Well you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon. I told you having silver eyes was a rare trait, and the fact that your someone that was able to use them seems to upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes but those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced."

"I don't know about the silver eyes. What are they?" Sora asks.

"Those born with silver eyes are some how able to defeat grimm by simply looking them down. Ridiculous I know, but a dragon is frozen on top Beacon tower, curtesy of Ruby." Qrow says.

"I don't even know how I did it." Ruby explains. "One moment I was on top Beacon with Cinder and the dragon and the next everything was white."

"Thats why I've been keeping an eye on you. I wanted to make sure you were safe." Qrow says. "All fo you."

"Well then, why hot just travel with us? It seems like that would have been way easier?" Ruby asks.

"He was using you as bait." Jaune answers for him.

"I wouldn't put it like that... its complicated." Qrow sheepishly answers.

"What is all of this? Ruby's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what? What is the point of all of this Would you just tell us whats going on?!" Jaune exclaims.

Qrow sighs. "Would you sit down. Your stressin me out kid." Jaune does so. "This also answers the question I know you have." Qrow points to Ren "Not many people are super religious these days. This worlds been around for a long time. Long enough for people sho have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. They were brothers. The god of light, spent his time creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the god of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had different ideas of how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. At night, his brother would wake to see the things the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brothers creations the god of darkness brought drought, fire, famine all that he could do to rid Remnant of life. But life always returned. So one night the younger brother went and made something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything."

"The creatures of grimm." Ruby answers.

"You guessed it." Qrow replies. "The older brother had finally had enough. He knew their feud couldn't last like this forever. He proposed they make one final creation. Together. Something they could both be proud of. Their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow. The path of light, or the path of darkness. And that is how humanity came to be."

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Sora asks.

"Well, thats the kicker. See the four gifts to mankind; Creation, destruction, knowledge and choice aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the gods before they abandoned Remnant. And each of them is extraordinarily powerful if someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. And thats exactly what the enemy wants. The four relics are hidden in the vaults inside the schools and can only be opened by their respective maiden. The huntsman academy's not only train generations of huntsman as protecters, but they also serve to guard the relics from her grasp." So yeah, theres that."

"Her. You mean Salem?" Ruby asks.

"Thats right." Qrow says. "Not much is known about her and quite frankly, thats not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the relics. And if she gets them, its not going to end well."

"Okay, so lets say we believe all of this..." Jaune starts off. "There really is this crazy evil being that is behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?"

"And why shouldn't we be more in a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be giving them a message? What if they're next?" Nora exclaims.

"Look, the headmaster over there saw what happened at Beacon. He's not dumb, he'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. You really think they planned that attack on Beacon overnight? And to answer your question, its the same reason we keep quite about the maidens. I if the whole world knew about the relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. We would have another great war on our hands and this time, you'd have to fight." Qrow explains. "Look, I had the same questions too. Ozpin always put his foot down, we can't cause a panic. I can't tell you how many times I heard that. Salems smart, she works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants so when it comes to placing blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us, humanity. So far she's done a pretty damn good job."

"Alright. So what should we do?" Ruby asks.

Qrow chuckles a this. " I don't really know. Ozpin has put a lot of faith and trust into the headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important part in stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert and Vacuo is well... Vacuo. It will be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, that in the fact that Cinder and crew claim to be from Haven. I think its likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in awhile, even before the attack. But I'm hoping he has the answers." Qrow then gets up. "Alright, I think it's time you kids got some sleep."

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah?"

"This is a lot to take in and it all sounds crazy. But... I'm willing to do whatever I can to help. Because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you just... travel with us instead of all this secrecy? And and..." Ruby trails off.

"Look, this has nothing to do with trust. Its a long story, okay." Qrow responds. Sora makes a mental note to watch him, unaware that Qrow already made one of him a day ago.

"Seriously? Now your done telling us story's." Nora asks. Qrow then goes on to tell how he got his name and the reason he never let anyone get close to the fight with Tyrian. His semblance was bad luck. He then walks away.

"Where are you going?" Ren asks.

"Takin a walk." Qrow replies.

"There's nothing else you wanna tell us?" Ruby asks.

"Not tonight." Qrow says. The four get out their sleeping bags while Sora sets up to sleep on a tree. Maybe the next day would be better. He thought as he drifted off to sleep.

The group of five awoke at dawn to hear the sound of intense coughing. Everyone turns to find the coughing coming from Qrow who is set up on another tree. Ruby quickly makes her way over to him to find the blood coming from his cut is now blue.

"Well... thats unfortunate." Qrow mutters before passing out.

"Oh no. What do we do!" Ruby begins freaking out.

"Sora, Nora! We'll grab some sticks to make a stretcher. Ren, Ruby, stay with Qrow. We'll get him to a village to be treated." Jaune commands. Everyone does as the knight asks. The three gathered strong sticks to use while Ruby found and extra large cloth to use os the bed piece. Once the stretcher had been constructed, the group hoisted Qrow onto it and Ruby and Jaune each took a side in carrying him.

As everyone headed out they went at a slightly quickened pace. It was a few hours in the journey when the group came into a fork in the road.

"Just hold on uncle Qrow." Ruby silently pleads.

"Tai... she's not... coming... Tai." Qrow mutters.

"He's getting worse." Jaune says.

"How much farther?" Ruby asks.

"We gotta be close." Nora says.

"With out the map there's no way of knowing." Ren says.

"If we could find some high ground, I'm sure it would help." Sora says.

"I feel like we're close to something." Ren assures. It is then that they notice the fork.

"What is it?" Ruby asks. Ren runs up to the sign in the middle. Nora follows him.

"Hey! Mistral! We're on the right path!" She exclaims. She then takes notice of another sign. "Oh."

"What is it?" Sora asks from behind them.

"Its nothing." Ren answers almost to quickly.

"Does it say how close?" Ruby asks.

"No. And it looks like the path takes us up through the mountains." Ren says.

"Thats good isn't it. From there we can see if there are any villages nearby that can help." Sora says.

"Sora, I don't know if all of us can make that climb." Jaune brings down the mood. Ruby then runs up to join the group.

"Okay, then what about this place?" She asks pointing to a sign. "Kuro- Kuroyuri. Can we get help there?"

"That village was destroyed years ago." Ren says.

"But if it takes us around the mountains its the best bet we've got." Jaune says.

"It will take too long." Ren says.

"The town would have had a doctor right? Maybe we can scavenge for medicine." Ruby suggests.

"Right." Sora agrees.

"We're not going to find anything we just have to press on!" Ren sharply replies. Silence.

"Ren, why are you acting-" Jaune starts.

"We can split up." Nora interrupts. "Ren and I can cut through the mountains while you, Sora, and Ruby take Qrow around through the village."

"No, we're supposed to stick together. We keep each other safe." Jaune replies

"We don't have time for safe." Nora says. "If we make it to Mistral we'll bring back help. If we don't well at least have a better view of the land. Up there we can see if theres somewhere else we can go." The sound of Qrow's coughing draws everyones attention for a second.

"Okay." Jaune agrees. He then gives Ren a hug. "Just take care of each other."

"We always have." Nora says. Ruby and Jaune then pick Qrow back up and watch as Nora and Ren leave on the path to Mistral before leaving with Sora themselves.

"They're gonna be fine, Jaune." Ruby assures.

"You don't know that." Jaune replies.

"Have a little faith Jaune. They can handle themselves weather its with Grimm or heartless." Sora assures.

"Maybe." Jaune can only say. They then continue on in silence.

Eventually the group arrive at a very run down looking village. Kuroyuri.

"Oh man." Jaune mutters.

"Come on." Ruby says. As the group move through, they experience more the fallen villages has to offer. Sora would have to put this down as probably the creepiest place he'd ever been, even including Halloween town and the real of darkness. Halloween town was pretty fun and still had fun loving Zombies and things around those lines to hang out with. The realm of darkness was certainly up there, but Sora found that places that were once inhabited by people, but were abandoned felt more unsettling then just nothing. No one ever lived in the realm of darkness besides Aqua for awhile and the heartless.

"Any of these places look like a pharmacy?" Ruby asks.

"Its honestly hard to tell." Jaune responds.

"Ren really didn't want to come here, did he?" Ruby continues.

"Uh, didn't seem so." Jaune says.

"Do you know why?" Ruby asks.

"I think I have a pretty good idea." Jaune says. The group then places the injured Qrow near a tree around the centre of the village before looking through some of the individual buildings for any kind of medicine. After around an hour the group reconvenes at the tree.

"Nothing." Jaune sighs.

"We should get back to Qrow." Ruby says. As the three look over him they here howling sound in the distance. Jaune quickly goes for his sword and turns around to find a singular shadow heartless.

"Thats just a shadow. They're the weakest of the heartless and aren't a problem to take out." Sora says before walking over to the lone heartless and destroy it with one swing of his keyblade.

"And that howl was far off. Weather it is heartless or grimm, it won't be a problem." Ruby assures.

"I know. Just, Ren and Nora are still out there." Jaune responds. Ruby then gets up from checking Qrow and slowly walks towards the two boys.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"What? Why?" Sora responds.

"This is all my fault." She says. "I should have never dragged you guys into this."

"You didn't drag us in. We wanted to come." Jaune says.

"But Sora didn't." Ruby says.

"I did. I said I would travel with you while looking for my friend." Sora responds.

"But you didn't know about Tyrian, about-"

"Ruby. We lost... we lost Pyrrha. You lost her too. And Penny, and your team and in a way your sister. But your still here. Despite everything you lost, and everything you could still lose you chose to come out here because you felt like you could make a difference. You didn't drag us along. You gave us the courage to follow you." Jaune says. Sora smiles at Jaunes words.

"No matter what trouble your in, your friends will have your back." Sora tells her.

"Thanks Jaune. You too Sora." Ruby smiles. As the group were getting their spirits back up, little did they know (or in Sora's case, he forgot for the moment) heartless travel in groups and there were many more, hiding in the shadows, ready to strike.

The eyes watching Jaune, Ruby, and Sora steadily increases as more shadows begin to spawn all around them. The shadows them converge on each other and combined to form a demon tower.

"What the heck is that?" Ruby asks.

"A demon tide." Sora answers as he summons his keyblade. This will be a good chance to try the keychain given to him by Vakama, Sora thinks.

He switches the keychain and the keyblade transforms itself. (hope your a Bionicle fan for this, otherwise, good luck) The guards around the handles look like the toa nuva's shoulder armour but shortened, the shaft was made up of many gears linked together and held in place by 2 small rods. And finally the teeth was of a Hau (Jaller's mask). This keyblade is called Ki-matua.

"Great, now they can combine." Jaune grunts as he readies his sword and shield while Ruby readies her scythe. Many Neoshadows spawn around the group.

"I'll handle the demon tower. You guys take care of everything else." Sora says before leaping into action, wildly slashing at the demon tide while Ruby dashed towards the neoshadows. Meanwhile, Jaune stayed behind to protect Qrow from some surrounding Neoshadows. The demon tide begins moving around, knocking Sora back as it erratically flys around and occasionally diggs into the ground and back up again. It hits Sora a few times from this before Sora can retaliate. His keyblade transforms into a launcher loaded with some sort of sphere looking projectiles (zamor launcher). Sora begins firing these off at the demon tide, breaking some shadows off of it. Some of them survive but are easily taken out by Ruby who is alternating between fighting Neoshadows and surviving shadows faster than the eye can see, leaving only a trail of rose petals in her wake.

After awhile of this, Sora transforms his keyblade again into what could almost be mistaken for a keyblade glider. The craft was very boxy with tiny wings and a seat located at the back of the bulk. Most notably, the zamour launcher was integrated into the craft (The Rockoh t3). Sora uses this to completely lay waste to most of the shadows making up the demon tide. It the retreats into the ground before it can be destroyed. Sora lands and converts the Rockoh back to Ki-matua just as Ruby defeats the last heartless.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." Jaune says. A loud screech is heard before Nora and Ren run into the village.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ruby asks.

"Did you hear that noise? What was that!" Jaune exclaims. Ren then falls to his knees as the group heres something getting closer to them.

"No." Ren mutters.

"Ren! What is it!" Ruby exclaims.

"Wait. Do you guys hear that?" Jaune asks.

"Ren?" Nora whispers. A large looking grimm with the body of a horse with some kind of twisted rider fused to its back rounds the corner of one of the buildings, showing itself to all. The rider has several arrows and other weapons plunged into its back. It painfully sits up and begins screeching at the group.

The group opens fire on the beast with Sora casting firaga along with them, hoping to explain away that the keyblade is also a gun should anyone ask. The beast seems to be largely uneffected by the fire and charges the group, knocking them back to the area where Qrow is. Sora, however, manages to airstep past the grimm before it knocks him back and now has a clear shot on its back. He begins to lock on as many projectiles with his shot-lock as he can. As he is locking one, Jaune manages to grab Qrow with the help of Ren's semblance and escort him out if harms way. Just as Jaune and Qrow are safely out of reach of the grimm, Sora achieves the maximum capacity of projectiles to fire. He fires and 20 orbs of light at the beast and they all hit it square in the back.

Nora joins in on the fun, firing her grenades a the grimm's right side and distracting it more. The thing uses its arms, which can apparently stretch, to knock out Nora and Ruby. Before Sora can do something about it, the demon tide returns from the ground. Now having replenished itself, it begins focusing its attack on Sora, knocking him around with its body. Sora casts multiple thunderaga spells to damage it and again more shadow heartless fall from its body. Sora easily defeats the shadows with a simple swing of his keyblade. Once the majority of shadows are defeated, he focuses on the demon tide again, this time he begins jumping up and slashing it whenever possible. After awhile of this he switches his keyblade to "Memory" and form changes it into its plasma pistol mode and opens fire. He occasionally hits the grimm the rest of RNJR are dealing with if the angle is good.

However when he does this, the grimm fully extends its arms and begins spinning around, knocking everyone down, including Sora. The demon tide takes advantage of this and hits Sora multiple times until he is able to recover. He casts curaga and gets ready to continue the fight. He casts blizzara around the time the demon tide burrows into the ground, freezing some of the heartless that comprised of it and somehow stopping its burrowing. This seemed to cause it a great deal of pain so it separated the dead heartless off its body and continued to burrow.

Once it resurfaced, Sora gets an idea. He changes his keyblade to "Sigma Matrix" and form changes it for the first time. Where the golden metal blade used to be, now extended a glowing purple chain mace. (Basically G1 Megatron's mace) and he began beating the demon tide from quite an impressive range. After this goes on the tide begins to burrow again to try to attack Sora from below. Sora then quickly shot-locks as much as he can and fires. The heartless parts that he hits all turn to solid metal. Sora takes the opportunity to charge the ride and slash it right in half, finally defeating it.

Sora looks over to the others to see the others recovering from fighting the grimm, but its still standing. Sora auickly makes his way over to the group and readies himself. He also notices Ren is disarmed of his blade guns and has only a small dagger.

"Ren. Jaune and I can take care of its arms." Ruby says.

"I'll take care of the horse." Nora adds.

"And I'll take care of the rest." Ren says.

"And I'll take care to make sure its not moving while you guys do so." Sora adds. The group splits off with Ruby firing at the grimm to get its attention. It attacks but its arm is soon pinned to the ground by Rubys scythe. A similar thing happens with Jaune though he has Rens help. Sora casts blizzara on the horses legs to minimize its struggling. Nora then leaps of a building and delivers and painful slam to the horses head, causing the rider to screech in anguish.

Ren then slowly walks up the beast and begins slowly severing its arms. He then slashes its stomach and finally, cuts of its head. The grimm then evaporates into a large body of smoke. After awhile, Ruby quickly runs to check on Qrow.

"Guys! I think I hear something!" Jaune exclaims.

"Is it that?" Sora asks, pointing to something in the sky.

"Those are airships! We can use them to get to Mistral!" Nora exclaims. After the airships land and they take Qrow in everyone begins to board. Everyone except Sora.

"Sora, aren't you coming?" Ruby asks.

"No. My friend is till out there and I have to find her. I made a promise to her, I need to keep it." Sora says.

"Oh. I see." Ruby sadly says. "I was kinda hoping you'd stick around and help us out with whatever came next."

"I'll be back. I promise you." Sora says.

Ruby chuckles at this. "You better. How else am I going to get this back from you." She hands him a keychain with her rose symbol. "It could decorate your weapon nicely. Anyway, I got to go. Qrow doesn't have much time. Good luck!" She exclaims as she leaves on the airship. The others wave to him as they take off. Once they're out of sight, Sora opens another portal. 'This has got to be the world. I can feel it.' Sora thinks as he steps through.


	8. Bounty's guild

Stepping out of the Razor Crest, Kairi was free to take in the space station of Polis Massa. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to take in. The hanger was all just grey with a few ventilation shafts and lights to break it up. Even with those lights, the hanger and the hallway that the pair soon entered. This hallway eventually led to what looked like a command centre with the entire joint being worked by droids that seemed to be cataloging previously completed jobs and monitoring new and ongoing ones.

Besides the droids, there was no one else there other than the two of them. 'Mando wasn't kidding when he said people rarely come here.' Kairi thinks. Eventually, the two walk up to one of the droids doing his job.

"Ah. It has been a few weeks since someone has come here for work. That is why you are here I assume." It says to them.

"Yes. I need a job thats not too far from here. And after that, I'm gonna need some repairs for my ship." Mando explains.

"I understand your situation. It isn't uncommon here." The droid says. He then begins searching his data base for potential jobs. "Ah. Here is one nearby. The guilds IG droid factory on Mustafar has been taken by the Black Sun. Should you rid of the Black Sun so we can have our factory back, we will pay you double of what repairs cost here."

"Rid of them how?" Kairi silently asks.

"It does not matter. So long as they are not on guild property." The droid responds. "Once you have retaken the factory, contact the guild here so we may send security droids to it."

"I understand." Mando responds. "Will that be all?" He asks.

"If you die, please contact us so we can send in a replacement." The droid says. Kairi can only give it a weird look, she assumed that under the helmet, Mando was doing the same.

"I'll be sure to do that." Mando responds, a small hint of sarcasm in his voice. The pair then head back to the Razor Crest. "I hope you don't plan on chiming in like that if we find ourselves in a similar situation." Mando says to her on the way back.

"Why?" Kairi asks.

"I understand if you don't want to kill people, but others won't. If it weren't a droid, the client would question our ability to do the job. So next time, I will do the talking." Mando explains.

"I... understand." Kairi says. The two then reach the Razor Crest. Once inside, Mando takes off and lays in the coordinates for Mustafar.

"Now listen, if the Black Sun has taken the factory, we should expect at least a decent defence. Once they see that I'm a Mandalorian, they'll know we were sent by the guild." Mando explains. "So, I'm gonna send you in to distract them. Tell them that your here to deliver more weapons. Can you do that?" Kairi wasn't sure. She never really communicated with any "Bad guys" Except for when the organization would monologue on whatever, meaning they would basically carry the conversation. Deciding she needed to try now, at least in case a similar situation came in the future, she provided her answer.

"I'll do it." Kairi responds.

"Good. They'll attempt to take you inside to talk to the contraband inspector. Thats when we strike." Mando continues. "I'll come out of the ship and attack. When they start focusing on me, you take out the guards next to you and begin attacking the defences. I recommend doing something big for that last part."

"I have just the thing in mind." Kairi confidently responds.

"Good. Once the outer defences are down, we'll move to the inside. The Black Sun usually focuses most of its defences on the exterior, so it shouldn't be a problem." Mando says. "Then, we contact the guild, fly back to Polis Massa and get payed and fixed before the child wakes up."

"Thats a good plan." Kairi compliments. Mando then, silently turns back to the controls.

"We're coming up on Mustafar. Get ready." Mando says. Upon dropping out of hyperspace, Kairi sees a dark red planet. The planet gave off a feeling of darkness that she sensed, heartless could be there, but she could feel it could also be something different. Possibly something worse. Once in the atmosphere, she can see what the surface of the planet looked. Lava flowed everywhere as it came down hundreds upon hundreds of volcanos. What ever wasn't lava was blackened stone caused by the intense heat of the planet. It trumped the Keyblade graveyard and realm of darkness as the darkest, most unsettling place she had ever seen.

"What happened here?" Kairi asks, as she looks around the surface more.

"No one knows." Mando replies. "I've heard there was a civilization here once that somehow caused the planet to become what it is now. I don't know if it is true." Eventually, a building hanging off one of the many volcanos comes into sight. The ship lands on the landing platform of the installation as multiple security lights follow it. "Hurry." Mando reminds as they both make their way out of the cockpit. "Remember. Act natural, or they'll get suspicious." Kairi then makes it to the exit and opens the door to exit while Mando hides from sight.

There were several guards in a dull gold coloured armour with helmets that concealed their faces. The helmets gave off an eerie green glow where the eyes would be. They escorted a man without armour but wearing attire the same colour scheme of the guards. Since he did not have a helmet his face was visible. The man had dark green skin and a black goatee. He then spoke in a deep voice.

"Why have you come here?" His face gives of the expression of light confusion.

"Uh, I've come to deliver more weapons." She tells them, somehow keeping her cool.

"Very well. I assume you have a manifest." He asks.

"Yes." She takes out the data pad that Mando had handed her before she left.

"Come inside. We'll get this verified." He said, leading the guards and her back into the building. The guards on the catwalks that sprawled around the landing platforms had now taken their attention off the Razor Crest and were now focused on Kairi. Before they could reach inside, the sound a familiar pulse rifle goes off, and the guards turn to find Mando with his pulse rifle as he fired on another guard.

"A stowaway! Get him!" One of the guards shouts. The guards now scramble to get to their previous defensive positions while Mando shoots at them with deadly accuracy, completely forgetting about Kairi. Just as planned. Kairi then summons Destinys Embrace and holds it up to the air. She was told by Merlin, that this spell had never been executed before by any previous keyblade wielder before her. The running theory was the reason only she could pull it off was because she was a princess of heart. While Kairi executed this move many times during training, she never actually used it in a real combat situation so she had no idea how effective it would actually be.

Her keyblade carries her up into the air where multiple light magic projectiles spawn. They rain down on the guards near her with a few light blasts seeking out targets on the catwalks. As they rain down, Kairi goes down with them to see the fruits of her labour. No one was killed, thank Kingdom Hearts, and everyone that was hit was currently knocked out. However, there still where many more guards firing on Mando, so the job wasn't over yet.

She fires a blizzara spell at one of the steel beams holding up the catwalk and then performs multiple dash strikes across the hit area, causing it to break, and sending all the Black Sun forces falling down unto the platform where luckily, the impact knocks them out. By then, the defences are down and Mando has caught up to Kairi meaning the two were free to move into the interior.

The first thing the two see inside is a stopped assembly line of droids with weird canister shaped heads. Before the two can take anything else in, two more guards run around the corner, firing their blasters. Kairi deflects the incoming blasts while Mando quickly dispatches the two guards with his own blaster.

"Not much left." He says before moving on, Kairi following him. Very quickly, the two reach what seemed to be the command centre for the factory. Inside were two more guards, one killed by Mando and the other knocked out by Kairi, and another green man similar to the first just with a beard instead of a goatee.

"What is this!" He demands as he holds up his hands in fear.

"We're taking back this factory." Mando impassively says as he holds the man at gun point.

"The factory on Black Sun territory!" The man shouts.

"Just cause you live on this rock doesn't mean you own it. You take from the guild, it would be stupid not to expect consequences." Mando replies. The man doesn't argue this any further.

"What will you do with me?" He asks.

"Just this." Mando says before cuffing him with some binders Kairi swore he didn't have before. "The guild can decide whats next." Mando then turns his back to him and radios the guild.

"What of you?" The man asks Kairi. "You don't look like a bounty hunter, why are you here?"

"None of your business." Kairi says, pointing her keyblade at him.

"Definitely not a bounty hunter." The man silently chuckles. Mando then gets of his call.

"You know, we don't exactly have to keep him conscious." He says. Kairi then takes this as a signal to knock him out.

The two then drag the man to the platform where they see a ship landing followed by multiple of the same type of droid seen in the factory filing out and dragging away the guards Kairi knocked out. Soon, one of the droid running things on Polis Massa comes out to talk with the two. One of the droids, the IG units, takes their prisoner away before the Polis Massa droid talks to them.

"Well done. The guild very much appreciates having you take prisoners. They will be used well." It tells them. "Talk to the droid that has given you your assignment. He will pay you."

"I understand." Mando says before walking to his ship with Kairi following.

"That wasn't so bad." Kairi says.

"I know. Lucky we got an easy job." Mando replies as the two head into the ship. There, they take off and fly back to Polis Massa. They them make their way back to the droid that had first given them the assignment.

"Well done." It says as it recognizes them. "Seeing as how you took prisoners, you will be paid extra. Also, repairs on your ship will begin. They will be finished at noon tomorrow."

"I see." Mando says as he takes the credits presented to him by the droid. 'A thank you would be a better response.' Kairi thinks until she is shaken by her mind by the droid.

"You credits miss..." The droid begins.

"Kairi." Kairi tells it as she takes the currency.

"I wish you luck on your next job." It says before the two leave.

* * *

As it watches them leaving, the droid turns back to its console. It begins making a new entry for the guild. Using footage from its own memory core and the name given to him, the droid officially adds Kairi to the bounty hunters guild.

"If the first job is completed, the person is granted access into the guild." The droid recites the rule of the guild to itself before turning back to its more traditional duty's9.

* * *

The two make it back to the ship where, the child still hasn't woken up yet.

"So, what now?" Kairi asks.

"Now, we rest." Mando says before pulling a panel down on the wall, replacing the small, sort of, couch with a small bed. "The repairs won't be done until tomorrow, and we've worked our asses of today, so I'd say we deserve it." He says before climbing the ladder back up to the higher floor.

Once he is out of sight, Kairi figures out how to turn off the lights and allows her mind to drift of to sleep.

After awhile, a loud alarm blares from outside the ship, waking Kairi and the child, as can be heard from its crying.

"Whats going on." Mando demands as he appears, still with his armour on.

"I don't know, it must be something outside." Kairi says as she takes the child in her arms, trying to calm it down. Mando opens the door to reveal that the airlock has been blocked by a door and all the lights have turned red. "Please tell me this is just a drill."

"Guild doesn't have drills." Mando replies as he takes out his blaster. "Bring the kid, come on." Mando heads out into the hanger, Kairi following with the child, who has just calmed down. Moving into the first hallway, the lights are also red, making it even harder to see than when they were their previous colour. "Stay close." Mando orders as he slowly makes his way through the hallway. Kairi summons her key blade incase something tries to come up behind her.

Eventually, the two make their way to the command centre where they find it completely in shambles. Among all the forcully deactivated droids lie many shadow heartless which had now taken notice of them.

"How is this possible? Did someone smuggle these in?" Mando asks.

"I don't think so. Heartless can appear anywhere they want." Kairi explains.

"Thats a problem." Mando states as he readies to fire on said heartless. Before he can, a thundaga destroys all the heartless in the room. "Was that you?" Mando asks.

"No." Kairi says, excitement filling her. She then sees a neo shadow quicky spawn beside Mando and was ready to attack. "Look out!" She exclaims before Mando quickly turns to see the attacker, he is unable to shoot it fast enough, but before the heartless can lay a claw on him, a familiar looking key blade slices through it. After the heartless evaportes, the saviour can be seen clearly. It was Sora, just as he looked when Kairi last saw him with his signature Kingdom Key at his side.

"Friend of yours?" Mando asks.

"Yes." Kairi contains her excitement. "Sora!" She finally calls out.

"Kairi!" He calls back. If she wasn't carrying the child at the time, she would've pulled Sora into a hug. "I'm so glad your okay." He says to.

"Im glad your okay too." She says. "This is Mando. He helped me after Xemnas took me. Mando this is Sora, one of my closest friends."

"Nice to meet you." He nods to Sora.

"Sora, do you know what happened after I was taken?" She asks him.

"I don't think nows the time." Mando cuts in. "We have to get out of here." Its is then a snarling sound is heard.

"What is that?" Sora asks as he readies himself for a fight.

"I... recognize that sound." Kairi says.

"Trandosian." Mando finishes. Right after he says that, said trandosian walks into view. Before he spots the four, he is quickly shot by Mando. "Hurry! Find the controls to lift the lockdown!" Mando demands as more trandosians find the group and begin firing. The three make their way behind a console to take cover from the blaster fire. "I'll cover you. Find the lockdown override."

"I'm coming with you." Sora says before to the two get up and fire back at the hunters. Meanwhile, Kairi places down the child behind the console.

"Stay down here. We'll make it out of this. I promise." She says before rising out of cover to look through the controls. None of what she saw looked like what was needed. But before she can look any further, the electronics in the panel shut down. Kairi looks up to see a trandosian right on the other side of the panel, clutching a handful of wires.

"Your not going anywhere." He says as his slit eyes pierce Kairi's own. She quickly bats him away with Destinys Embrace before hitting him with a firaga. She then turns to the other battle just in time to see Mando get tackled by another trandosian into another room. She then looks to see Sora taking on the small armada of trandosians all by himself. He was alternating between close range attacks and spells flawlessly, successfully beating most of the forces. Just as all seems won, a trandosians is able to jump Sora and holds him down to the ground.

"Sora!" She exclaims as she aims Destinys Embrace to fire another firaga spell at the offending trandosian. Before she can do so, the hunter grabs Sora and holds him in front of him.

"Kairi! Get him!" Sora yells. Kairi hesitates, not wanting to hit Sora or have him get caught in the explosion. Before she can do anything, the trandosian fires his blaster through Sora and hits Kairi's leg, forcing her unto the ground.

"Useless." The alien says as he throws Sora on the ground. Kairi can barely think with the pain in her leg, but after awhile, her mind focuses on Sora. Was he alive after that laser went through him! The trandosian is now in front of Kairi looking down at her. He picks her up by the neck and lifts her into the air. "Useless. Like you always have been." 'Wait, how does he know about me?' Kairi thinks. 'It must be one of the organization members in disguise'

"Who... are you?" Kairi chokes out.

"That isn't important." He says as he levels his blaster pistol with Kairi's heart.

* * *

Next think Kairi knew, she woke up in a silent gasp aboard the Razor Crest. Her leg was no longer in pain. Taking a closer look, it hadn't been shot. 'The whole thing must have been a dream.' She concludes, but also on the verge of crying from her mind playing such a cruel trick on her. Having Sora find her when in reality, he has yet to do that. Not to mention she had to see him get hurt because of her, even if it wasn't the real Sora

Before letting any tears out, she feels a small hand grasp her arm. Looking to the hand she finds the child doing what she thought was attempting to comfort her. To her surprise, it was actually very effective. The tension and sadness from the dream just seemed to disappear, but she couldn't place why.

"Thank you." Kairi whispers to the child, to which it only smiles at her. After a few minutes of this, she picks up the child and places it back in its locker. "See you in the morning." She smiles before closing the locker and heading to sleep herself.

Luckily, she had no further nightmares for the rest of the night. Kairi figured it may have something to do with the child's power that Mando keeps talking about.

The next morning, as Mando was off somewhere in the station getting more supplies, Kairi was in the Razor Crest keeping the child company, while also reading up on the history of the galaxy. She first learned of what the book called the clone war. One political group known as the Separatists believed the other, known as the Republic, to be corrupt, thus they broke off and soon a war began. It was then Kairi noticed Mando's history logs were incomplete, as there were holes throughout the stories going forward. One being, the logs never really specified how the war began, only that it started with the first battle of Geonosis where the Separatists used Battle droids as their main infantry troops while the Republic used Clone troopers.

It then goes on to state a few of the battles in said Clone war, especially one of the last battle known as the siege of Mandalore. 'Weird' Kairi thought. 'So, Mando's named after the planet? Or is it just a nickname or something like that?' Soon, she reads about how the Empire took over after that and it switched the Republics mission from keeping the peace to enforcing it, and the fact while doing this it enslaved whole species to work for them most notably the Wookies and Ugnaughts. Kairi found them hypocritical and once reading on what they did to enforce the peace, she then thought of them as near Xehanort levels of bad, possibly even worse. She then reads on of the rise of the rebellion and how they overthrew the Empire which now lead into present day.

Having a basic understanding of recent history and some alien species such as the previously mentioned Ugnaughts and Wookies. Kairi belived she was better prepared to be in this world... or universe, however it worked.

Just as she put the logs back in their place, Mando returns and heads straight to the cockpit without a word. The engines power up as Kairi takes the child and joins him in said cockpit.

"Whats the rush?" She asked him.

"We're on a guild facility. Sooner or later, someone will show up to take the child. Or, one of the droids will get the order that I'm wanted and send the IG units to do it." Mando explains as he pulls out of the hanger bay.

"So... where do we go to now?" Kairi asks.

"To Geonosis. You said we're looking for a desert wastland, thats the perfect place." Mando explains.

"Right. The first clone wars battle was there." Kairi remembers outloud.

"Two battles were fought there, but a lot of people forget the second." Mando says as he jumps to hyperspace.

* * *

**Nervaro**

Greef Carga sighed as he entered the building for what seemed like the hundredth time, under a storm trooper escort. Ever since The Mandalorian took the package, the Imperial in charge never seemed to leave him alone. Just what did he want with the damn thing anyway. Soon, he was seated with the old man and discussing progress on finding the child.

"I do have some new information." Greef tell the imp.

"Please. Do not withhold." The imp tells him.

"I have reports that The Mandalorian had stopped of at Polis Massa for repairs. Our droids did not have the order to act at the time so they believed he was still with the guild." He explains.

"And the child?"

"Though he did not come out of the ship, he was there." He confirms. "Also, a new guild member has been entered in the system from the same location. She was accompanying the Mandalorian."

"And who is this "new member?"" After the imp asks, Greef sets down a bounty puck and activates it.

"She's called Kairi. No last name was mentioned, but doing a background check... she doesn't exist." He answers.

"Does this... Kairi pose any threat? She does not look dangerous."

"That depends on how you look at it. Mando had come there to get a job and the girl tagged along. They were supposed to reclaim guild property from the Black Sun, they succeeded and prisoners where captured curtesy of this girl. Whats significant though is that the prisoners were almost over half the force that was sent there to guard it." Greef explains. "She doesn't seem to kill, but that doesn't mean she won't. And if she is in the mood, she could possibly put down a lot of my hunters with ease."

The imp is silent for a moment, thinking on what he has just been told. He eventually responds. "Whoever this Kairi is, i'm sure she can't be as dangerous as our runaway Mandalorian. I want more hunters, but not just that. I want better hunters." He demands. Greef inwardly sighs. The same damn order the last few times he was here.

"Well, your in luck." Greef tells him. "I've just got one of the best hunters in the galaxy contracted. He should be waiting outside now." With that, the imperial motions to one of the troopers to let the hunter in. He returns with a trandosian in a yellow flight suit carrying a rebly v10 rifle. "I would like to introduce you to Bossk. I believe he was once in the empires empoy."

"Indeed he was. Tell me bounty hunter, what assurance can you offer that you will complete the job." the imp asks.

"... I've captured an elite division of rebel soldiers all by myself. A Mandalorian and a girl will be nothing compared to that." Bossk answers in his slithery voice. The imp smiles at this. He was well aware of the story, it was one of the empires greatest victories.

"I trust you will not disappoint." He says.

* * *

Coming out of hyperspace, Kairi could now see Geonosis. It was much like Jedda, except the planet looked more orange and there was a ring orbiting around it. The Razor Crest then begins its descent. Upon getting to the surface, it looked more of the same as Jedda, except more... orangy.

Rather than fly around looking for the keyblades, Mando lands the ship almost as soon as he can.

"Why are we stopping?" Kairi asks as he exits the cockpit. She follows him down unto the lower floor and out the ship.

"Theres something I gotta... see." Mando explains. He then hands Kairi a strange device. Upon closer inspection, Kairi determined they were an advanced version of binoculars. "Look for your gave-yard. Keep the kid out of trouble. I'll be back." And with that, he walks off towards one of the mountains of rock, only this one had a door in it. 'Must have been from the Separatists.' Kairi thought as she turns towards the child, staying close to her.

"Don't worry." She tells it. "I don't think we'll be out here for long." She then focuses on using the binoculars to find the keyblade grave-yard.

* * *

Stepping inside, Mando actives his flood lights to see the entrance to what used to be a droid factory. Moving in, he passes through another door to find the actual factory completely dormant. Around 30 years ago this factory would have been rich with activity making robots with no other purpose then to shoot and destroy. The section Mando was currently in was one that produced B1 battle droids, the most common on the front line of the clone wars. There were a few incomplete B1s still there, never to be activated.

Moving closer into the factory was another assembly line lined with incomplete droidekas. Going deeper, there was what used to be a meeting room for the Separatists. Beyond that was a few holding cells, completely empty. Then it was back to the droid production line, this time with B2 battle droids. They were better known as super battle droids. The same model was responsible for raiding Mandos village all those years ago. For decimating everything in their path without reason. For murdering his parents and almost killing him. Though it has been years, Mando never forgot and never let go of the anger towards them and any other droid.

He wanted to tear down the remaining B2s in tons of what would be painful ways if they were online. Shoot them, slice them, whatever. But whatever he did, it would only be a waste of time. It would be better to let these droids rust. Sensing there was nothing here, Mando turns to leave. Then the lights of the factory come on, though thankfully nothing comes online. As the lights flicker and struggle to remain lit, he wonders what could have triggered this. The facility couldn't have some kind of presence detector or the lights would have come on when he entered. Then, both exits to the portion of the B2 assembly line seal shut.

"Well... fuck." Mando sighs.

* * *

As Kairi looks around, getting the hang of using the binocs, as they are called, she is distracted by the child pulling on her leg.

"What is it?" Kairi asks, giving it her full attention. The child simply uses his tiny hands to point in a direction. Kairi then turns the binocs in that direction to spot a sandstorm coming their way. This could complicate things. "Come on. Lets go tell Mando." Kairi says as she puts the binocs on her belt, picks up the child, and runs into the door Mando entered. As she gets inside, the door closes on its own. She takes the child further into the factory to find an inactive assembly line filled with strange, tan coloured droids. 'Separatist droids.' Kairi guesses. 'They may have been coloured white years ago.' she also thinks as she imagines what they would have looked like all those years ago, unaware that besides the dust, that was it.

The doors then seal shut around her, leaving no way to get further into the factory of out of it.

"Hmm. The door must be malfunctioning." Kairi thinks aloud. She was no electrician so she had to find another way out besides wiring the door to work or something like that. Luckily for her, there was no rush. She closed the door to the Razor Crest before running off so it would be safe from the storm and if Mando was still inside, so should he. "Help me find a way out?" Kairi asks the child to which it nods and slowly walks off to look. Kairi found the scene adorable and couldn't help but smile as she watches him walk off. Kairi then turns to her own search for an escape when a thought crosses her mind.

She got why the lights were on, Mando probably turned them on when he entered but what about the doors? Unless Mando was watching her and closing and opening the doors at will, which she highly doubted, why would they do... just what they did. Sure it could be a simple malfunction, but both doors? Unlikely. As she searched Kairi kept the possibility in her mind that she wasn't alone in this factory.


	9. Factory of the past

After a quick search, the child comes up with nothing and makes its way back to Kairi. Luckily for it, Kairi has found a way out. Theres no telling where it might lead them or even if its safe, but the only way to get out is to make their way through the actual assembly line of the droids.

"Come on little guy, I've got us a way out." Kairi says before scooping up the child in her left arm and then jumping down unto the assembly line. She then began walking in the direction of where the droids would leave once they were finished, at least she thought.

Walking through, she noticed several dangerous machines lined the assembly line currently inactive like multiple crushing machines and some weird welding arms. As she made her way through, multiple Shadow and soldier heartless appeared in her way. Thinking fast, Kairi summons her keyblade and slashes away an incoming shadow. 'This is going to be hard to fight with the child.' She thinks as she stands her ground.

* * *

Mando turns on his thermal imaging to see if anyone else is nearby. Nothing. He then looks for any way of escape when he hears something behind him. He quickly turns around and draws his blaster before getting tackled and dropping his blaster to another trandosian. This one wearing a yellow flight suit as opposed to the brownish stuff trandosians traditionally wear. The two engage in a fist fight until Mando can reach his vibro knife, in which he attempts to stab the attacker, but he holds it back.

"I was expecting more from a Mandalorian." He hisses.

"Give it a few minutes. You won't be disappointed." Mando replies, head butting the trandosian and giveing him time to recover his blaster. It is then the assembly line begins to function again. The machine groan as they continue their function with minimal difficulty despite the years past.

"This will make things a lot more intresting." The trandosian exclaims. 'He had to have activated everything before starting the fight.' Mando thinks. He then shoots at the trandosian, prompting him to run for cover while Mando jumps down unto the assembly line, providing his own cover fire while doing so.

* * *

Kairi blocks a soldiers scratch attack with her keyblade, just barely not losing her grip. She was more used to two handed combat, but the child ensured that was not happening unless it were to get hurt. Then, the assembly line springs to life, making loud squealing sounds as they come to life. Kairi sets back, avoiding one of the crushers before it comes down on her. 'Things are never getting easier.' She thought. Then she has an idea.

Her physical offensive might be handicapped but her magic isn't. She can fight with that while she avoids all the deathtraps and oncoming heartless attacks. She fires two firagas at the two nearest heartless and jumps past the first crusher before casting a thundaga, hitting multiple heartless and moving past the second crusher. She stops to avoid a third crusher and hits a shadow with another firaga before rushing past the crusher. She repeats this process, each time avoiding crushers and heartless while attacking the latter, until she comes across a visible hallway leading away from the assembly line.

She jumps over to it and rushes to the other side where she finds a door. Upon closer inspection, she finds the door is locked.

"Your about to see something awesome." She tells the child as she steps back and points Destinys Embrace at the door. The keyblades tip is illuminated by some kind of light while the door shines with a similar light in the shape of a keyhole. Then, her keyblade shoots a beam of light into the keyhole causing the door to finally open. After that, Kairi spares a look on the child's face to see it staring in awe and excitement at the light show. Before she can move on she hears a voice.

"Kid?" It asks. It was Mando, but it sounded like it was coming through a speaker of some sort. she looks around to find nothing that could produce the sound. She then looks back at the child to find it pointing at her waist. She looks down to see it is pointing directly on some cylinder object on her belt. "Kid?" Mando asks again, confirming his voice was coming from the object. She takes it off her belt to find only one button on it, which she assumed was for transmitting.

"Yeah, I'm here." She says.

"Good, because some bounty hunter has followed us here, locked down the plant and started the factory." He tells her. "Get to a ship and fly to the Razor Crest. There has to be something left in the hanger."

"Wait, I don't entirely know how to fly a ship." She tells him. She had a little Gummi ship pilot training, but that was only enough to get by. The ships the Separatists use could fly differently to the ones shes trained on.

"Just figure it out. Only thing not to do is kill your self or damage my ship." Mando says. Having to accept this Kairi walks through the door to find another hallway going perpendicular to the one she was just in. She decides to go left and makes her way to where ever it lead.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mando had just finished telling Kairi what to do while avoiding crushers and welding arms. From that point on, it looked like a safe ride to where ever the droids are dropped off. He then gets hit in the back from a sniper rifle, knocking him to the ground and almost throwing him off the conveyer belt into the molten lava below.

He turns to find the trandosian with a relby v10 in hand, slowly making his way towards him.

"Fight me Mandalorian! Unless you are a coward." He demands.

"If you got any sort of intelligence, lizard, you'd know Mandalorians are no cowards." He tells him. The trandosian puts his rifle on his back using the attached strap before going into a pouncing stance. Mando takes out his vibro knife and readies for attack. The trandosian pounces, stopping Mando from stabbing him and sending him back to the ground. He holds Mandos arm down as he reaches for his throat but Mando activates his flamethrower and hits the trandosians feet with it, causing him to jump away from the sudden heat.

"Your better than the other lizards I've killed." Mando notices.

"So. You haven't heard of me." The trandosian says. "Strange for such a notable guild member. I am Bossk. I've been killing for the guild since before the clone war, in the honour of the score keeper. Your are next." He pounces again, this time slashing at Mando with his claws but Mando simply avoids these until he is eventually struck and cut in his leg. "Beskar armour doesn't make you invincible." Bossk taunts.

"You talk a lot to your targets." Mando shoots back before throwing his knife into Bossk's shoulder and punching him in the face, knocking him onto the ground. "If you came in here with only a sniper rifle and your claws, you've clearly never fought a Mandalorian before."

"Thats why I bring more... effective tools." Bossk says before throwing a grenade at Mando causing him to quickly get clear of the blast radius. To his dismay, it does not explode, rather it releases a poisonous gas called dioxis. Mando runs away from the cloud of gass only to be hit in the back again with the sniper rifle. He turns back to find Bossk emerge from the cloud with his shoulder completely healed. Trandosians are not only immune to dioxis, it heals them. "You say your not a coward. Yet you run." He says as he leaps atop Mando and begins to strangle him.

"It... is... strategy." Mando says before throwing Bossk of him and off the conveyer belt. He looks down to see if he had survived but the smoke coming from the lava prevents him from getting a good look.

If Bossk is alive, it will take him awhile to climb back up, leaving plenty of time for him to escape.

* * *

At the end of the hallway, Kairi finds the hanger and to her luck, a blue and grey shuttle with a singular wing coming up the top waits looking completely intact.

"Things are starting to look up." She says to the child as she walks towards it. "Unless of coarse, I crash the ship."

"Halt." She hears. She turns to find many of the same droids from the conveyer belt aiming their blasters at her. They must have been droids completed from the factories reactivation. "You are in a restricted area. Surrender to the Separatist alliance." The lead one orders.

"Uh, sorry. I'm just going to borrow your ship for awhile. Uh, I'll bring it back." Kairi says.

"Negative. The Seperatist data core doesn't recognize you as- wait! I can't connect to the data core! Can any of you?" The lead one asks its companions only to get multiple head shakes and no's. "I'll call it in with command." Kairi takes this opportunity to put the child down.

"Go to the ship and wait for me." She whispers to it, prompting the little guy to make its way towards it.

"I can't connect with them either." The lead droid says.

"The comms must be down." Another one says.

"Wait, this could mean an attack!" The lead droid deduces and aims his rifle Kairi, prompting the others to do the same. Kairi summons Destinys Embrace, ready to fight.

"Is that a jedi?" One droid asks.

"I don't know. I never seen one." Another says.

"It must be... uh I think." Another suggests.

"Take her down." The lead one orders. The droids then begin collectively firing their blasters.

As the droids fired, Kairi used reflect as quick as she could before diving behind a nearby crate for cover.

"Forward!" The lead droid announces, leading to multiple loud marching sounds as the droids advanced. Kairi looked over and saw the child hiding safely behind one of the landing skids of the shuttle. No need to hold back now. She gets out from her cover and dashes towards the droids, deflecting a few laser blasts before casting thundaga and destroying a huge number of the small squad of droids.

"I wasn't made for this!" One of the droids shouted as he aimlessly shot everywhere, hoping to hit their attacker.

"How would you know? We were just born 2 minutes ago." A different one argues. The two are then destroyed from swipes of Destinys Embrace.

"Would you like to change your plans?" Kairi asks the surviving droids. The 7 or so remaining stand for a moment before one runs like hell out of the room. "Thats comforting." Kairi sighs before destroying the remainder with a single cast of thundaga. She turns towards the ship before eyeing a strange ball roll up in her path and unfold into a slightly larger droid. The droid is then encompassed in a blue circular field before opening fire on Kairi. She reflects a few bolts before the explosive bolts knocks her onto her back. She gets back up and fires a firaga which is absorbed by the blue field, better known as a force field.

The droid advances on Kairi, still firing its guns, so Kairi hides behind the crate again until she notices a slowdown on the droids firing. Looking up, she sees one of its guns appear to be jammed, forcing it to use only one of them causing a slower rate of fire. Taking this opportunity, Kairi jumps out from her cover and rushes the droid, evading its blaster bolts with ease. When she reaches the droid, she performs a move called seven wishes, which causes her to perform multiple dash attacks in quick succession. These attacks cause Kairi to move through the shield and attack the droid directly. It turns out that with out its shield, it is pretty weak, so the multiple dash attacks ended up being over kill.

When this is finished, Kairi looks to the child again, to find it now entering the shuttle. 'Better do the same before more droids show up.' She thinks before bolting toward the shuttle. She rushes in and quickly takes a seat next to the already seated child. How did he got on the high seat? We'll never know.

"I can do this." Kairi tells herself before attempting to power on the ship. The switch she flips works and the ship springs to life, amazingly without difficulty. "Okay. Now taking off." Kairi says before grabbing the two control sticks and tilting them up, causing the ship to go up. She looks in the ships interior to see the boarding ramp still up. "Opps." She says to herself while frantically looking for the button or switch to close it. As she does so, the child slowly face palms as he watches the display.

Eventually Kairi finds the button and tilts the control sticks forward, causing the ship to exit the hanger

* * *

"Hey guys! I finally unjammed my gun!" The droid that left arrives in time to see the ship leave. "What?" He then looks around to see his fallen brethren. "Oh." He sighs.

* * *

Kairi attempts to turn right by shifting the left stick in the direction. To her surprise, this actually causes the ship itself to tilt to a ninety degree angle.

"Are the controls inverted?" She asks no one. she tries again with the right stick and the ship turns as planned. After this, she levels out again. "Okay. I got this." She assures the child. "I wonder what else this can do." She starts by pressing down the two buttons on the control sticks. The result is the front cannons firing on a nearby stone spire. "Good to know, that could come in handy. What about this?" She reaches for a lever above her, before she activates whatever it is, she sees the label 'hyperdrive'. It would probably be a bad idea to activate it here. "You know what, I'll just stop touching things." She finally child lets out a very silent sigh of relief.

Soon, the two find the Razor Crest and begin landing right next to it. When touching down, a loud crunch sound can be heard.

"What was that?" Kairi asks before grabbing the child and opening the boarding ramp. Once outside she sees what she's forgetting. "Right... the lander gear." She sighs. Making nothing of it Kairi takes the child into the Razor Crest and places it back in its locker. "Stay here I'm just gonna... redo the landing so Mando doesn't see how I messed up." She walks outside and heads for the shuttle.

Upon reaching the shuttle, before going inside, she gets a feeling and so summons her key blade just in time to block a sniper shot, though the force still knocks Kairi to the ground. She looks up to see a trandosian in a yellow jumpsuit walk into view with a rifle hung over his shoulders.

"You're my only obstacle to getting the package and setting a trap for the Mandalorian." He says as he approaches.

"I don't think so!" Kairi shouts to him.

"I disagree." He says before throwing something at Kairi, something that immediately starts spewing some sort of gas. What ever it is its bad because Kairi starts coughing uncontrollably as her insides feel like they're burning inside out. "Don't feel bad little girl. Dioxis kills the best warriors, besides us trandosians." The gas has stopped, but it doesn't matter as it has already done its job. Kairi falls to the ground, still coughing as the trandosian walks right past her, towards the ship.

Using all the energy she can muster, Kairi raises her keyblade and casts cureaga on herself and the pain fades away. Taking the opportunity, Kairi shoots a firaga at the trandosians exposed back, severely burning him. He then slowly gets back up and faces Kairi.

"How?! You were finished!" He shouts.

"Theres a lot you don't know about me, hunter." Kairi retorts.

"Its Bossk. Remember it, cause it'll be the last name you hear!" Bossk leaps at Kairi, knocking her to the ground. She try's in vain to get the lizard off. Bossk the wraps his claws around her neck. "Nighty night." He taunts. Before a blaster shot rings out through the desert and the trandosian falls limp. Pushing him of herself, Kairi looks to see her saviour holstering his blaster.

"Thanks." She says.

"Nice landing." Mando teases as he walks up to her.

"How did he find us?" She asks him. Mando meanwhile searches the body and finds two beeping devices. "What are those?"

"Tracking fobs. One's for the kid and the others for... you." He says.

"Me? How?" Kairi asks.

"I don't know exactly how these things work. Point now is, that it isn't safe for you to travel with me anymore." Mando explains.

"So, all the other time did constitute as safe?" Kairi sarcastically asks. To this, Mando actually lets out a chuckle before getting serious again.

"No, but now the guild will be all over you too." He explains. "Besides, I'm sure this grave yard your looking doesn't exist. It sould be better if we travel separately."

"But how?" She asks. "I don't have a ship."

"Yeah you do." He points to the Separatist shuttle. "Its old but it still works. You can fly some place like Naboo and easily settle down, or you can continue on your impossible mission. Meanwhile, I'll get the guilds attention somewhere else and make it apparent that your not associated with me anymore. It'll at least get ninety-nine percent of the hunters of your back."

"I can't just leave you!" She exclaims.

"Your not. We're just taking different paths. Keep the suit and the com-link. I'll contact you if I ever need help with anything." Mando tells her. Finding no way to argue, Kairi sighs in defeat.

"Okay." Mando then holds his hand out as a sort of handshake.

"Until our paths cross." Kairi takes it.

"Yeah. Until our paths cross." When there hands leave, Kairi is left with a strange looking skull keychain. "Whats this?" She asks.

"Its a Mandalorian symbol, but different from the ones we carry. Its been said to have been found on Mandalo, not crafted. I somehow got into possession of it after raiding an imperial facility. For some reason I feel like I need to give it to you." He explains. Looking back at it Kairi examines the keychain, and it looks compatible with Destiny's Embrace.

Mando then turns towards his own ship. "Thank you! Say good bye to the little guy for me! Oh, and you never told me his name!"

"Heh, I didn't ask for it and I'll be sure to do that!" Mando calls back before disappearing in his ship which, not long after, takes off and flys away from sight. Kairi then makes her way into her very own ship. 'If I really am keeping this, it needs a new paint job. Blue isn't really my colour.' She thinks before sitting in the pilots chair and lifting off. Upon getting into space, she looks down at the navicomputer and finds Naboo in there. Not knowing anything about it, she decides to start there. Who knows, it might have an answer after all.

After selecting Naboo in the computer, Kairi reaches up and engages the hyperdrive and goes into hyperspace. Admittedly, this was sort of fun. After awhile, the hyperdrive disengages and before Kairi is a lush plant filled with the green of plant life and the blue of water. Not exactly a wasteland, but maybe something can still be found there.

She enters the atmosphere and sees a beautiful city with pretty architecture. It truly was a sight to behold. If only everyone else was here. She decides to land on the outskirts of the city, figuring it would be weird to pull up in an old Separatist shuttle. That and she didn't know where the parking spaces were. After landing she gets lit and is hit with the beautiful feeling of a sunny, spring day. She lifts up the boarding ramp before beginning the walk to the city. However that doesn't last long as she is stopped when she bumps into a man.

"Sorry." She apologizes before getting a better look at the individual. To say their attire was strange would be an understatement. The man had a large, dull gold chest plate with a working clock in the centre and two pumps on the shoulders pumping... something. A large hat with the same colour and probably material as the armour, with another working clock integrated into it. And finally a large evil looking mask made of wood with some bones hanging of it and almost very real looking facial features. Despite the mask, she could see the person behind the mask had blue skin, but that was all she could make out.

**"No need to apologize." **The man boomed in a very intimidating voice. Not only that, the man didn't say that, the mask did! **"After all, your giving me something." **He says before quickly grabbing Kairi and just disappearing. Aside from the shuttle, no one might as well had been there.

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**Geonosis**

"So..." One of the remaining droids says to another. "What now. I think our master are dead or have abandoned us. What now?"

"I don't know. I'm not programmed to be the high leader." The other says.

"Maybe we should look for someone who is." The first suggests.

"Great idea." The second responds. Then, about five or so more droids join them.

"Are one of you droids programmed to be leader?" One of the five asks them.

"No." They respond.

"Wanna come with us to find someone who is?" He asks.

"Yes? That's just what we were thinking." One of the two says before the two join the crowed.


	10. N Sanity

Walking through the portal again, Sora once again finds himself in the middle of a forest. This was getting tiring. When would the search end? He looks around for anyone nearby, and to his surprise, he finds many people staring at him. They look primitive, as in they had leaf loin clothes and wooden spears and shields. But strangely, the most note worthy quality was their wild looking hair that almost looked like an afro.

"Uh... hello?" Sora attempts to greet. One of the people speaks in some language Sora can't understand, but what he could guess, was that he was calling someone over. Indeed someone came, it was a tribesman like the rest of the people surrounding him, however he was noticeably taller (and fatter) and rather than having the wild hair everyone else had, some kind of hat or headdress lay atop his head. He also carried a stick with what looked like a small skull on the end decorated with who knows what. This must be their leader.

The leader observes Sora for a few seconds before exclaiming some sort of command to the people here.

"Does anyone here speak english?" He asks them, but he isn't granted a response. He soon finds out why. Behind him he can see more tribesman trying to roll a boulder unto him. "Hey! What are you doing!" He exclaims but its too late, the boulder had left its perch and was barreling toward Sora. Wasting no time, Sora ran in the other direction as he was chased by the boulder and cheering tribesmen. As he runs, he avoids wooden posts and small fences no doubt put up by the tribesmen, he even has to jump over what appeared to be bottomless pits.

Eventually he spies the end of the line. It was either get crushed by the boulder or jump off a rapidly approaching cliff end... or both! Luckily, the second option would suffice for Sora as he leaped off and used glide to glide away from the now angry tribes men. What was their problem anyway? Sora thought as he glide onto a beach close-by.

Upon landing he can see two islands. One was fairly normal looking for an island, the second was what caught his attention. On it was a castle that touched the clouds and beside it, almost attached lay a factory that dominated whatever else of the island the castle didn't touch.

"Okay, I gotta ask where I am." Sora says to himself. "Theres gotta be someone around here who can tell me." He looks around the island he is currently on and spies a trail leading inland. Thats a start. He travels down the path until he finds a lone house in the forest. He walks up to the house an knocks on the big round door on the front.

After a short wait, a humanoid of some orange animal, Sora had no idea what animal it was supposed to be, answered the door. She had long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail with some of the hair in the front free flowing. She wore a white shirt and overals.

"Quickly. Inside!" She panic whispers. She pulls Sora into the house before he can respond, now he is face to face with the other occupants of the room. One was a really buff and had a prosthetic arm, wore camouflaged pants with no shirt, and he appeared to be the same species of the girl but with a darker fur colour.

Then there was one that seemed the most "regular" of the group if that made sense. He wore jeans with no shirt and had his hair styled sort of like mohawk but it could easily be looked over as being a part of his furr.

Last was the strangest of all. It was a floating mask decorated with four different coloured feathers on its head and its face looked awfully real and almost as if it wasn't mean't to be worn.

"Sorry about that." The girl apologizes. "Its just not safe outside right now."

"Looked pretty safe to me." Sora responds.

"It looks safe, but could ambush us at anytime." She explains.

"Who?" Sora asks.

"Our apologies. We should introduce ourselves and explain everything." The mask says. "I am Aku aku. The one beside me is Crash Bandicoot."

"I'm Crunch." The buff one introduces. "Crunch Bandicoot."

"And I'm Coco." The girl says.

"I'm Sora." Sora introduces. "Now whats going on here?"

"You've no doubt seen the large castle on one of the islands around here." Aku aku asks to which Sora nods. "That castle belongs to Dr. Cortex and he's moving to take over the world."

"We would go and stop him, but Aku is not letting us." Crunch complains.

"I don't know how, but Dr. Cortex somehow got his hands on a keyblade, and no one will stand a chance against him with that much less when he's with my brother."

"Wait! You know of the keyblade!" Sora exclaims.

"Why, yes. I am more surprised that you know of it." Aku aku says.

"Aku Aku, what is a keyblade?" Coco asks.

"Easy, this!" Sora exclaims as he summons Kingdom Key.

"You have one!" Aku Aku exclaims. "We might just stand a chance then."

"You never answered us." Crunch deadpans.

"My apologies, the keyblade is a weapon that has the power to wield unbelievable magic. It can unlock and lock anything among many other wondrous abilities. With one, Dr. Cortex could not only successfully conquer this world, he could do the same with others, or worse, he could break the Alpha lock." Aku Aku explains.

"Alpha lock?" Sora asks.

"Other worlds?" Coco asks. Crash can only scratch his head to show he too was confused.

"I believe I need to start explaining everything." Aku Aku says. "Eons ago, my brother and I roamed freely around the many different worlds that lay beyond here. There was one source of power binding the worlds together. Kingdom Hearts." Aku Aku explains. "Uka Uka attempted to take control of Kingdom Hearts to rule the world his way, however he was stopped by a group of keyblade wielders known as the fortellers. Once Uka Uka was defeated, I volunteered to be locked away with him, to ensure that he remain here. As extra insurance, a few worlds nearby this one were cut off from the rest of the world, so even if Uka Uka does find a way to escape, he would never be able to reach Kingdom Hearts."

"Woah. Is this Uka Uka really that powerful?" Sora asks.

"I'm afraid so. And with a keyblade, he can undo everything that was done to him." Aku Aku sighs. "But, now that your here, we stand more of a chance. That is, if you will help us?"

"Of coarse." Sora replies.

"So, Cortex got a giant all powerful key. Why couldn't we just get our own?" Crunch asks.

"No key blade exists in this world." Aku Aku explains. "And even if one did, you need to be worthy to wield one."

"And Cortex is worthy?!" Coco exclaims.

"I do not think so. Whatever is going on with Cortex, it is not right." Aku Aku explains. Crash makes a noise to get everyones attention before pointing at the door to the house.

"Crash is right. The sooner we get moving, the better chance we have at stopping Cortex in time." Aku Aku says.

"So, to that castle?" Sora asks.

"Not quite. Cortex destroyed my teleporter stationed there, so we can't just go straight to it. We'd have to use Cortex's teleporter on island 2." Coco explains.

"Mean, we'll have to fight past Cortex's minions to get to it." Crunch says, bashing his fists together. Coco leads the group to another room.

"This way, I think the teleporter to island 2 still works." Coco says. She fiddles with some kind of mechanical device while Sora looks around the room. This one looked a lot like a garage, though, he couldn't say where it would be relative to the house because he didn't see anywhere it could be on the outside. There where three of what looked like go-karts parked facing away from the wall they were closest to. The karts had a rounded front end with a spoiler in the back and they were painted blue with two white racing stripes going down them. And in the corner of the room, multiple weights can be seen presumably belonging to Crunch. "Got it!" Coco exclaims. "Lets go!"

The group jumps unto a pad and they are transported to a forest area beside a flowing river.

"Hmm. No one is around." Crunch notes. "Maybe we should keep it that way."

"Woah!" Crash exclaims. Everyone turns to him to see him pointing toward a group of heartless soldiers.

"What are those?!" Coco exclaims.

"Probably more of Dr. Cortex's minions." Crunch explains.

"No. These are heartless." Sora explains while summoning his keyblade and getting into a defensive position.

"Yes. These creatures feast on the darkness of ones heart. Do not let them defeat you." Aku Aku advises.

"I guess its time to show each other what we can do." Crunch says as he readies his fists. Crash pulls out a bazooka from Kingdom Hearts knows where and blasts a few soldiers with some kind of apple. Crunch rushes in and takes out all the heartless that cross his path using brute force.

"What can you do?" Coco asks Sora.

"Just watch." Sora says, he activates his shotlock and targets all the heartless in his line of sight. He fires, and the magical projectiles decimate all the remaining heartless.

"Woah!" Coco exclaims.

"That is some serious fire power." Crunch agrees in awe. Crash can only nod with the same look of awe as everyone else on his face.

"Thats only the tip of the iceberg." Sora says. "I'm sure you'll see more as we go along."

"Shh, over there." Crunch says as he ducks behind some nearby bushes. The rest of the group join him and spot two identical people in safari gear armed with rifles just standing there.

"Lab assistants." Coco says, to which Crash growls.

"Huh? They don't look like it." Sora says.

"They're robots made by Cortex to be guards. Thats why they all look the same. They're called lab assistants because thats what they most commonly look like." Coco explains. "Now... how to quickly take them out?"

"Uh, where'd Crash go?" Crunch says. The group looks to find Crash nowhere near them. They turn back to the lab assistants to see Crash sneaking up behind them.

"Oh, big bro." Coco smiles. Crash then spin attacks the lab assistants, and the spin is somehow powerful enough to knick the quiet a distance away.

"Hey. That was pretty good." Sora compliments. Crash gives him a smile of gratitude before leading the group onward. "So, what are we looking for?" Sora eventually asks. He then sees the group had come across a volcano. Not only that, but thereseemed to some sort of building built into it.

"That, is what we're looking for." Aku Aku answers.

"Cortex is mining inside the islands an is using the metals to build his evil inventions." Coco explains. "It also should have a working teleporter to island 3."

"Well, lets get inside and bust some heads." Crunch exclaims. As the group slowly walks toward the plant, Sora can't help but feel a sense of dread the more he continues.

* * *

"Uka Uka. I must ask why Cortex has the keyblade after the work I've done to ensure we have one." Dr. N. trophy complains to the mask.

**"You may have ensured that we acquired to wield the power for us to leave this miserable world, but it is Cortex who has ensured that we are able to wield that power. So quit your complaining and play nice with him! I have little patience for dealing with you two's complaints over each other." **Uka Uka booms.

"Of coarse, master." Dr. Trophy apologizes.

**"Now listen Trophy. I have a plan incase its seems as if Cortex is about to fail. I doubt we will have to implement, but just incase, I need you to steal Dr. Cortex's plans for his newest creation and make a replica." **Uka Uka orders.

"That! But it is the most heavily guarded thing he owns." Trophy complains. He is quickly silenced by Uka Uka's loud growling at him. "I mean, I am the master of time after all, I will no doubt find a way."

**"Excellent." **Uka Uka smiles.

* * *

Crash leads the group into entrance of an ancient looking structure going inside the volcano.

"Why are we going in here?" Sora asks.

"I think Crash says, there is an entrance to the mine through here." Coco explains. "It would be much better and sneakier than going through the front door."

"Good plan." Sora compliments. The group head inside and through the dark interior, they can see a door leaking out light with another lab assistant with a rifle guarding it.

"Anything to take him out quietly?" Crunch whispers.

"I think I have something." Sora says. He aims his keyblade and casts blizzara at the lab assistant, and it hits him right in the mouth as well as knocks him down a bottomless pit.

"Nice. What else can you do." Crunch asks.

"So much, I think I've lost count of the amount of stuff I can do." Sora responds.

"Guys, we have a problem. We can't see that well so we could also end up like that lab assistant with the wrong step." Coco says.

"I can help with that." Aku Aku says before glowing bright enough for the group to see a good distance away.

"Nice." Sora says. The group then parkours over to the door, which when going inside, they find a hallway made of metal with small rivers of lava flowing through the floor with no safe way to get across besides jumping.

"I think its safe to say Cortex has a safety-less workplace addiction." Coco says. Crash makes some nosies before Aku Aku translates.

"The entrance to Cortex's castle on island three is almost the same, just with toxic waste instead of lava." The group harmlessly jumps over the many lava rivers until the hallway ends and they enter a wide open room with lab assistants moving equipment in. However, these lab assistants appear like a cross between a lab assistant and a heartless, as they're all black with yellow eyes and a heartless symbol pinned to the left side of their chest.

"So, the heartless are working with ." Crunch grunts.

"I think he's controlling them." Sora says. "I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the heartless can temporarily be controlled by someone who's heart is dark enough."

"Temporarily?" Coco asks.

"Later. We've got baddies." Crunch says, punching back a lunging lab heartless. Sora takes out the keychain Ruby gave him and uses it for his keyblade. It switches to have a mainly pure black base with red armour plating with an accent colour of silver and a thorny vine traveling up the hilt to the end where a burning silver rose made up the teeth. This keyblade is called "Silver Rose".

Using the keyblades form change, the keyblade shifts so the teeth extend into a scythe blade and the hand guards collapse down to extent the handle making a scythe similar to Crescent Rose. He then begins eliminating the lab heartless effortlessly.

"Woah, no thats cool." Crunch says.

"Thanks, I actually just got this." Sora says.

"Keep moving forward guys." Coco ushers on. The group moves to another room which houses many pieces of mining equipment, this time guarded by some lab assistants wearing miner getup. Crash runs to the assistants as the reach for some pickaxes and spins insanely fast, knocking the group around until they're no longer functional.

"Woah, that was insane." Sora says.

"That is Crashes death tornado technique." Aku Aku explains. "It can also allow him to glide short distances."

"Are we gonna stop to talk about every ability we have! Lets keep going." Coco demands.

"Classic Coco. Always on task." Crunch smiles. the group make their way to another room, this one much larger and darker than the rest. "Anyone know where the light switch is?" The room then suddenly illuminates (barely) to reveal a jacked up tiger with spike shoulder guards.

"Cortex said you come here." He says. Lab assistants and lab heartless surround the bandicoots. "I didn't expect little boy to come with. I deal with him first. The ground around Sora falls, leaving nine pillars keeping Sora from falling into the abyss bellow.

"Tiny! This same set up didn't stop Crash before, what makes you think it'll stop Sora!" Coco calls out to him.

"Tiny learn from mistakes. So he prepared." The now named Tiny tiger grabs a spear out of the darkness. He leaps at Sora, who jumps to another pillar. Tiny leaps again and while in mid air, Sora leaps to attack, but Tiny bumps him aside and almost knocks him off the edge. Luckily, Sora quickly recovers and jumps away from an oncoming Tiny. When he sees Tiny jump again he has his spear poised to strike. sora jumps away and watches Tiny embed his spear unto the ground.

Taking this opportunity, Sora quickly strikes with Silver Rose and snaps Tiny's spear. This does nothing to him, so he keeps leaping around, prompting Sora to leap away. Among all the dodging, he spots an unstable, and shaking pillar. He leaps over to it and Tiny follows suit.

After leaping away and Tiny taking his place, the pillar gives way and falls Tiny along with it. Eventually, Tiny ,somehow, gets back up on the pillar he jut fell on.

"Ahhhhhh! Tiny fell again! Now Tiny crush you!" Tiny yells, however, he is unable to do anything as Crunch comes in punches him into the wall. Tiny falls back on to a pillar and looks up to see the bandicoots joining Sora. "Tiny need new strategy."

"You'll have plenty of time to think in the dark." Crunch says before looking to Crash who pulls out his bazooka and fires at the pillar Tiny was laying on, causing him to fall into the darkness. "Nice shot buddy." Crunch says.

"This way guys!" Coco waves over to another room. The group make their way through another hallway, this time there are no lava rivers fortunately, until they find a pad swirling with orange energy.

"Is this the portal?" Sora asks.

"Yes. This should take us to the factory section of Cortex's castle." Coco answers. The group stands on the portal and are whisked away to island three.

Upon getting there, Sora looks up at the factory to see the castle closer and much larger than expected.

"I'd hate to have to climb up there." Sora says, to which he notices Crash shiver a little. 'Had he actually climbed up before?' Sora asks himself.

"Inside. Time is of the essence." Aku Aku reminds everyone. To which every make their way into "Cortex Power" As the factorys tittle reads.

Walking into the station, the bandicoots and Sora see a long hallway lined with hot and cold pipes with some electricity coursing above them. Additionally, there are small robots moving around, presumably guarding of cleaning up. Crash leads the way. jumping and spinning the robots away as he navigates over the pipes. Eventually, the group comes across two branching hallways.

"Which way do we go?" Sora asks. Crash makes some noises while pointing in a direction.

"Its best if we follow Crash. He's been here before." Crunch says.

Crash turns right and leads the group over rivers of waste flowing through the floors.

"I think I see what you mean." Sora says. "No concept for safety." When there aren't waste rivers, there are hot pipes to jump over along with electricity to avoid. Then another branching path, this time Crash goes left where more toxic rivers lay to be jumped over. The group come across a pair of floating spike bots guarding one of the pits. Sora readies his keyblade.

"Stop! These bots can't be destroyed with out getting hurt yourself!" Coco exclaims.

"Really?" Sora asks. "We'll just let me try something." Sora switches his keyblade to Sigma Matrix and shot locks the two and fires. The bots interiors turn to pure metal, stopping their functions and causing them to plummet into the sludge below.

"Kid, your just getting more impressive as we go on." Crunch compliments. The group goes down the hallway and reaches a point where another hallway joined with the one they were currently on. What lay beyond was a pool of toxic waste with small squares guarded by spike bots being the only way to get across.

"Well, these guys aren't that impressive. They aren't even taking notice of us." Sora says, switching his keyblade to Memory, form changes it, and shoots all the spike bots in the room with pinpoint accuracy.

"Seriously, when this is done, you need to tell me where I can get one of those." Crunch says. The group carefully jumps over the squares to the end where multiple electric nodes are dangerously bouncing electricity between each other. They evade these, jump over more pipes and waste, and move on to the next room.

The next room was dark, but the path out of it was thankfully lit. But path would be a bit to... complimentary in this case. Yet it was another case of having to parkour through the room.

"Whats the point of this?! Why not just have a hallway in and out like normal people." Crunch exclaims, getting frustrated with all the jumping.

"Dr. Cortex does love making his faculties hard to get into." Aku Aku says. Crash makes some noises, Aku Aku responds. "Yes. It is strange that Dr. Cortex had this place rebuilt the exact same way it was before.

"Rebuilt?" Sora asks.

"Cortex's original castle burned down after Crash first took him down." Aku Aku responds.

"How did the fire start?" Sora asks, to which Crash can only scratch his head.

"That is a good question." Aku Aku states.

* * *

Meanwhile, while the group is making their way through the generator room, Cortex and N. Gin watch them through multiple camera bots in the same room.

"Oh, look N. Gin The bandicoots have come to stop me." Cortex says, sounding board an on the verge of yawning.

"If you'd like sir, I could fire up my new mech suit and destroy them." N. Gin suggests.

"Don't bother, it'll just end up like all the other ones." Cortex sharply responds. "Let them come to me. I'll make sure they never thwart my plans again." It is then Cortex see's a new individual with the bandicoots. "Who is that?"

"I don't know sir, but I heard Tiny say he fights with a giant key. Must have gotten even more brain damage from the fall." N. Gin responds.

"You fool! Tiny's not crazy. Thats a key blade wielder. One from another world." Cortex raises his voice.

"Is that a problem?" N. Gin responds.

"I see Uka Uka hasn't told you." Cortex says quite enough so N. Gin doesn't hear him. "Under normal circumstances, it would be. But with Uka Uka's help, he shall be defeated easily."

* * *

The gang had long finished crossing the generator room and the room next door, the toxic waste disposal room where Crash had managed to pick up more Wumpa fruit ammo from wooden crates just lying about. And soon, they found themselves sneaking in room with a fancy desk, fancy chairs, multiple pictures of some other animal Sora didn't know in a suit, and it was overlooking some kind of power station.

There, they find a different creature sitting at the desk and on the phone with someone. This one was notably bulkier than the one in the paintings and had no hair and... did he have a crocodile tail?

"Thats Dingodile." Coco tells Sora.

"... and for the love of Uka Uka, I told you to get an interior decorator in here yesterday! I ain't havin my new office lookin like the last guys place!" Dingodile yells at the phone. "If Cassandra's not available then just contact someone else, mate! I ain't gotta tell you this! Just get it done!" Dingodile hangs up and immediately gets another call. "What is it!" His face falls the second he hears who's on the phone. "Eh, sorry Dr. Cortex. I'm just a little heated up. What do you need?... Oh I see. I'll deal with them then"

Dingodile hangs up and takes out a flamethrower that was hiding behind his chair.

"Alright, mates. You can come out now! I know you're in here. And I'm gonna roast yas if you're hiding or not." Dingo says as he charges up the flame thrower. The bandicoots and Sora come out of hiding.

"Alright, you found us. Want a prize?" Crunch asks as he bashes bis fist together.

"I'm already on the track to get it." Dingo says before a shield of fire coming from the roof envelops him. "That'd be you on your knees." Dingo fires his flame thrower at the group causing them to scatter around the room. Crash hides behind on of the chairs before he realizes he isn't anymore. "Them, chairs may be bullet proof, but they ain't got nothin on my flame thrower."

Sora fires a wateraga which brings down a small portion of his shields, but in what felt like not time at all, the shields came back up.

"We need to find a way to stop the flame throwers in the roof before the shield comes back!" Coco exclaims. Crash takes out a Wumpa fruit and looks at it quizzically, before deciding that it's not going to do the trick and eats it, then returning a shrug to the others.

"I have an idea! But I don't know how long it'll last." Sora calls out to the bandicoots. Sora casts wateraga again before casting blizzara on the little flame spouts on the roof. "Quickly!" Coco takes this opportunity to cyclone spin Dingodile before jumping out of the way of the way of the flame shield, which had just broken through the ice. Everyone then hears a loud alarm.

"Uh oh. Dingo's gonna blow and we don't have cover!" Crunch exclaims.

"Get behind me!" Sora yells. The bandicoots do so and Sora casts reflect around them just as Dingodile's pack blows, mixes with the fire, and also sets the room ablaze.

"Thats gonna be a pain to clean up." Dingo mumbles as he gets to his feet.

Sora does the same thing he did before, this time with Crash knocking him out. They do this one more time with Crunch punching him so hard, he flys through the window and into the power room. There, the group watches him get electrocuted and eventually pass out from exhaustion.

"What now?" Sora asks.

"Its been a tough day. Let him sleep it off." Crunch answers.

"I mean, where do we go now. This place doesn't look like it has an exit." Sora clarifies. Crash messes around with one of the pictures a bit before it lifts to reveal the path onwards. "Secret passage. Cool."

"Onwards!" Coco exclaims.

The secret passage lead out of the building and to a thin metal bridge that lead to the castle section of the base. It was quite foggy, so the bandicoots and Sora couldn't see the castle all to well, but it didn't really matter.

Soon, they approached the end of the bridge and there sat an elevator, ready for use.

"Phew." Crash says as they get on.

"Indeed. It would have been unfortunate to do it all over again." Aku Aku agrees.

"You've climbed the tower?" Sora asks.

"Yes. And crossed the bridge, but at the time it was an unstable wooden bridge." Aku Aku answers.

"Ohhhhh, that does not sound fun." Sora says. Then, a giant robot flys up to the elevator still going up and smashes the shaft just above it causing the elevator to stop and shine its warning lights. The robot has large bulky arms and short legs with its torso also serving as its face. Its colour scheme was red with an accent colour of grey.

"Its N. Gin!" Coco cries. The short man with half his face replaced with metal with a missile end sticking out must be N. Gin then.

"Indeed! Cortex told me not to engage, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to use this new mech." N. Gin replies as the robots arms grab the castle, causing the whole mech to hang off the side. "Now, lets see how you deal with this mech in an enclosed space."

"He's right! We're sitting ducks!" Crunch cries.

"I'm not." Sora says, hopping out of the top of the elevator.

"Cortex says you're dangerous. Lets see so." N. Gin taunts.

"Sora! By me enough time! I might be able to hack into one of his mech suits systems and do something!" Coco calls out to him.

"Okay." Sora replies back. The robots face opens up to reveal a triple barrel laser launcher. One of the barrels fires a green energy ball at Sora who casts reflect, sending it back and destroying the barrel it came from. The face closes, hiding away the guns.

"Oh, lets see you fair against thing you can't send back." N. Gin says before two small compartments on the arms, still clutching the castle, open up and release multiple live mines at Sora, who jumps and nearly throws himself of the building trying to avoid the mines. N. Gin lets out a sound of glee as he opens the face again and fires at Sora, who yet again reflects it back to its source.

"Your gonna have to do better than that." Sora taunts.

"Poor choice of words." N. Gin says as a giant laser comes from the mechs back, takes aim at the elevator.

"We ain't gonna survive that." Crunch braces himself and prepares for the end. Luckily, that doesn't happen. Sora quickly casts a blizzaga at the lazer and uses his shotlock to dash over to it and perform multiple combos on the frozen weapon until it explodes. After this, Sora glides back to the top of the still stagnant elevator.

"Very impressive, but you won't survive much longer." N. Gin says before opening the mine hatches on the mechs arms and releasing more mines. Sora dodges them much like before as N. Gin laughs at the difficulty Sora is having. Without even realizing he was doing it, N. Gin opens the face plate and fires again. While in mid air, Sora spies the laser ball and reflects it back much like before, destroying the barrel it came from. N. Gin frustratedly grunts.

"Give it up! Your defeated!" Sora demands.

"Oh, you wish, boy. That was me having fun, and now that you've ruined it I shall now delete all of you!" N. Gin exclaims before the mech grabs onto the elevator and slowly begins squishing it.

"Woah." Crash whispers. Then, the mech stops.

"What!" N. Gin exclaims.

"I've hacked the mech suit and stalled its main commands. He'll get complete control back soon so that thing needs to be destroyed now!" Coco exclaims.

"How?" Sora asks.

"The weapons systems are usually N. Gin's mechs weak spots." Crunch explains. "I think he might have one more."

"The mines!" Sora realizes. Focusing on one of the mine dispensers as it opens, Sora casts all the firaga's he can in the hole. The result was greater then expected. The entire arm of the mech blew up, leaving just the one to hang on.

"No! Not again!" N. Gin cries. Sora turns his attention to the other arm and fires yet more firaga at the weak point, causing the other arm to explode. With nothing to hold on to, the mech begins its descent. "Fire engines! Fire engines!" He cries as he falls, but nothing happens. They must have been damaged when the laser blew up or Coco hacked them. Either way, nothing stopped N. Gin as he fell to the bottom of the castle. After this, Sora hopped back into the elevator.

"Its broken, its not going anywhere." Coco states. Crunch then pries the door of whatever floor they were still on open.

"We'll, We have different plans than waiting here for a repair crew. Lets go." Crunch says.

The group makes their way out of the elevator to find machinery and conveyer belts and pipes all at work doing... whatever Cortex was having them do.

"This is the castle machinery! Just past this is Cortex's lab. He's got to be there." Aku Aku exclaims.

"But we got to get up to that door." Crunch points at a door to high to jump to from their current position. "The only way to get there is go through the machinery." Crash shakes his head before looking like he's about to throw up.

"Crash! Are you okay!" Sora exclaims. Crash then pukes out, off all things, a green gem. "Huh?"

"Oh! I see!" Coco exclaims. Crash nods before taking the gem over to the closest point he could possibly get to the door. When getting there, the gem grows to the size of a small platform. Crash then hops on it and it takes him to the door like an elevator.

"Good thinkin little buddy." Crunch smiles before jumping on next. After a few runs, everyone is up to the door.

"Now everyone, be extra cautious. Cortex is not only dangerous with the keyblade, but with Uka Uka's help he will not be easy to defeat." Aku Aku says.

"I'm ready." Sora says, to which the Bandicoots nod in agreeance.

"Very well. Let us go and stop this evil." Aku Aku declares.

The bandicoots and Sora enter a dimply lit room with tons of equipment and animal cages lying around.

"This place is a dump." Sora says.

"Yeah, why down grade from space stations to a castle anyway, now that I think about it." Crunch adds.

"It would have made it harder for you to get here then." An unfamiliar voice says. Sora turns to find a small yellow skinned man with a big head and a big capital N attached to his forehead. He was currently atop a red hover board.

"Dr. Cortex. What have you done." Aku Aku demands, erasing Sora's question if this was Cortex or not.

"I haven't done anything. Its what I'm going to do is what you should be worried about." Cortex responds as he puts on a black glove laced with circuity of indeterminable purpose.

**"And what he's going to do will put me in charge of all the worlds in existence." **A darker voice claims. A mask floats out of the dark revealing him to be the voice. Instead of feathers decorating the mask, it looked like hair and bones, where as Aku Aku gave off a wise and comforting feel, this mask sent of an evil and powerful feel.

"Uka Uka, I beg you not to go after Kingdom Hearts again. It will only end in disaster." Aku Aku begs.

**"Wrong! I have learned from my mistakes. With Cortex and his armada's help, I will be successful in capturing Kingdom Hearts this time!" **Uka Uka booms.

"Uka Uka, you and Aku Aku are evenly matched, and Crash has beat Cortex before. We will stop you again." Coco declares.

"Yes, yes, I am no match for a more experienced keyblade wielder and the orange marsupial that has defeated me countless times." Cortex sighs, but with an air of trickery in his words. "I thought of that before you came." Cortex smiles and summons his keyblade, only... its not his.

The design, the keychain, everything. This was Destinys Embrace. Kairi's keyblade.

"Wha! Thats Kairi's!" Sora yells. Cortex casts an aero spell, sending the bandicoots into a cage, he then locks it with Kairi's keyblade. Aku Aku charges to attack, but is stopped by Uka Uka. "Where is Kairi! Why do you have her keyblade!" Sora demands.

"Rather loud aren't you." Cortex deadpans. "Anyway, this glove can mimic what I call the heart print of anyone, therefore allowing to use this keyblade. If she where able to summon it again it wouldn't respond to her, thats how convincing it is."

"If you hurt her, I swear I'll make you regret it!" Sora yells.

"Sheesh, in one ear and out the other." Cortex says. "Don't worry about the girl, she just so happens to be unconscious in the same cage the bandicoots are in." Cortex fires a firaga at the cage, but it is blocked by Aku Aku, making him disappear with nothing left but a few feathers and a weird sound he just made.

"Aku Aku!" Sora yells.

"Now I believe we are ready to fight." Cortex says before Uka Uka sticks himself on Cortex's face.

**"Now, I will inflict a thousand years of suffering on you!" **Uka Uka booms before getting into a battle ready position.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kairi was just waking up from getting knocked out from that weird looking guy with the strange mask. What was his problem. Sen wakes up to see three humanoid orange creatures starring at her.

"Uh... where am I?" She groans.

"Your in Cortex's castle. Are you okay?" The female of the three asks.

"I think so." Kairi responds. "Thank you. I'm Kairi."

"I'm Coco." Coco introduces herself.

"I'm Crunch, the silent fella beside me is Crash." The buff looking one says.

"Were you captured by the blue guy wearing all the clocks too?" Kairi asks.

"I think you're referring to Dr. Nefarious Trohy, and no." Coco answers. "Cortex threw us in here with his keyblade."

"Keyblade?"

"Yeah, its golden with multiple colours on the ends. Doesn't seem very evil to me." Crunch grunts.

"Thats my keyblade!" Kairi exclaims before trying to summon it back, only for nothing to come. "How!"

"I overheard Cortex say something about making a very convincing heart print or something." Coco says.

"The only one who can get us put now is Sora." Crunch says.

"Sora! Sora's here!" Kairi exclaims.

"Yeah, I take it your from another world too." Crunch says. Kairi was silent, did Sora break the world order again?

"Don't worry Aku Aku told us. We won't tell anyone else." Coco assures. Kairi feels relived despite not knowing who this Aku Aku is.

"Yes, I've been searching everywhere for Sora!" She exclaims. It is then she notices that she is bo longer wearing the leather gear Mando gave to her, but she was now back in the same pink clothes she was in at the keyblade grave yard. She searches her pockets for anything to help, but all she comes up with is the keychain Mando gave her. At least it wasn't lost, but its not going to be much help without a keyblade.

She looks past the cage to see the back of Sora as he was currently facing off against a new individual wearing the same mask as this N. Trophy guy. She wanted to call out to him, but decided against it figuring it would only give the masked man an opportunity to attack.

* * *

Cortex strikes first by casting three firaga simultaneously. Which Sora blocks and counters with thunderaga which catches Cortex of guard. Sora uses this to leap up and begin slashing at Cortex, but he is head butted back down, not only that but the head butt was powerful, maybe because of Cortex's large head, Uka Uak, or both.

Sora falls to the ground, but quickly gets back up in time to dodge a thundaga from Uka Uka.

**"Foolish boy! I know everything a keyblade wielder could learn! I was once among them! My experience will send you to your doom!" **Uka Uka taunts.

"I was among the best of them! I won't let you win!" Sora shouts back. Sora switches his keyblade to Sigma matrix and shotlocks Cortex, firing the magical projectiles that turn to metal. Cortex reflects these and fires a blizzaga to keep Sora off balance. Uka Uka comes off Cortex's face.

"What? You can change it? I need to figure that out. Despite it being powerful, this keyblade is too... colourful for my taste." Cortex says with his short lived freedom as Uka Uka takes control again.

**"No matter what our keyblade looks like, we will destroy you!"**

"But it's not yours." Sora shoots back.

**"Heartless! Deal with this brat!" **Uka Uka commands. Then, multiple lab heartless appear from the darkness and charge at Sora. He switches to his Silver Rose keyblade, form changing it to it scythe for, and using it to beat back the swarm. Uka Uka takes this opportunity and swoops in with Cortex's hover board and slashes at Sora a bit, knocking him back. He recovers and uses his shot lock to speed back to Cortex and hit him a few times before being knocked back by a head butt. Definitely Uka Uka. Backing up, Sora switches his keyblade to Ki-matua and transforms it into its flight form. Getting into the air (or at least, as high as he could in the room) Sora begins firing on the heartless from above with a few stray bolts hitting Uka Uka.

Uka Uka flys up to Sora's level on his hover board and fire a beam of darkness at him. It hits the flight vehicle causing it to transform back into a keyblade, luckily Sora is unfazed by this and has a sword fight in mid air, mostly pressing the offensive to keep himself in the air while Uka Uka blocked his attacks. In the mist of this, Uka Uka quickly detaches himself of Cortex and attempts to take control of Sora. Sora struggles to remain in control of his own body while trying to pry Uka Uka off himself. Meanwhile, after Cortex quickly recovers from the headache that comes from Uka Uka's control, he slashes at the vulnerable Sora. Having enough of this, Uka Uka detaches himself from Sora and goes back to Cortex.

**"Time to end this!" **Uka Uka demands. Sora launches a firaga at him only for it to be deflected and hit again with a slash, sending him to the ground. Uka Uka takes this opportunity to throw mines down his way. After recovering, Sora dodges all the mines thrown his way except one manages to get lucky enough to blast him to the ground. The heartless surround him.

**"Surrender and this goes no further boy." **Uka Uka demands as he slowly descends. Sora remains still, thinking of a way to get out of this.

"Don't give up Sora!" He hears a familiar voice. Is it? He looks over to the cage to see Kairi with the bandicoots watching his battle. Seeing Kairi again give him the strength to get up.

**"So... you have chosen death." **Uka Uka says.

"No Uka Uka. I chose light." Sora quickly sends out a keybeam, as it was called, with a specific target in mind. Cortex's glove. The beam hits and Cortex drops Destiny's Embrace. The gloves circuitry appears to be all but destroyed as stray wires can do nothing but spark.

"No No!" Cortex says after Uka Uka rips free from him. "Our keyblade is gone!"

**"Our first one yes." **Uka Uka says.

"Who did you kidnap now!" Sora demands.

**"No one. Not yet." **Uka Uka smiles. Sora's Kingdom Key then vanishes from his hands.

"What?" Sora asks. The, blue skinned with bronze-ish armour with clocks installed in it appears.

"I'm what." He says, showing off the same circuit covered glove which he holds Kingdom Key. "I am Dr. Nefarious Trohy. And Uka Uka suspected that something like this happen, so he had me make a back up using DNA you left when attempting to raid us."

"But how did you do all that so fast?" Sora asks.

"Nothing is fast or slow when you are master of time." N. Trophy says. Then, out of nowhere, N. Trophy was hit with a firaga. He looks up to see Kairi, Destiny's Embrace in hand along side the bandicoots.

"Lets see what the master of time can do." Kairi taunts. There is then a sudden explosion from one of the castle walls. When the dust clears, it is revealed that it is N. Gin piloting a space ship that had done the deed.

"This fight is for another time." says as he Cortex, and Uka Uka board the ship.

"Wait!" Kairi demands as she rushes at Trophy to attack, only to be blocked and pushed back.

"I have spoken. Crash! I look forward to our rematch as well." Trophy says before the ship takes off. Crash makes an angry face and makes angry nosies at the ship now getting further away.

"If we wanna catch them, we have to get back to the house now." Crunch brings up.

"Uh, right behind you." Sora says. With that, the bandicoots leave the room, leaving only himself and Kairi. Kairi immediately rushes into a hug with him. The two just stay like this for awhile, until Sora can feel his shoulder getting wet. He pulls Kairi back to find her crying. "What is it?" He asks.

"I'm sorry." She mumbles.

"Sorry? You don't have anything to be sorry about Kairi." Sora assures.

"The second Keyblade war... its over isn't it." Kairi asks.

"...yes?" Sora says, failing to see what she was coming up

"I did nothing to help like always. I was a liability. It was supposed to be different!" She shouts.

"Its okay. You aren't a liability, Kairi. You helped in any way you could and thats nothing to cry about if you couldn't do more." Sora says.

"Maybe. But compared to everyone else, I'm useless." She says.

"You don't have to prove anything to me, and I'm sure the others would say the same thing." Sora assures.

"Your right. I don't have to prove anything to myself. I was only trying to prove to myself that I'm not just someone who needs to be rescued all the time. I know how that sounds, but..."

"No I get it." Sora says. "Its okay to feel like that. Being a keyblade wielder has taught me there will always be evil in the world. And when a new evil shows itself, I would have no one else but you, Kairi, to fight it with." Kairi is touched my Sora's words.

"Sora... thank you." She hugs Sora again, who returns the hug. For a moment, they completely forgotten everything that happened before. Right now, it was just about them. And they wouldn't have it any other way.

Returning to the bandicoots home on island one was easy since Coco had just finished programming a teleporter to it.

"Okay, after we use this the controls will explode, so Cortex can't surprise attack us if he ever decides to come back here." Coco says.

"Sounds good. Just waiting for Sora and Kairi then?" Crunch asks, to which Coco nods. Just in time, Sora and Kairi enter the transport room.

"What are we going to do now? We can't let Uka Uka escape this world." Sora asks.

"I'm not sure. I was thinking of asking Aku Aku for an idea." Coco says. Sora then remembers what happened to Aku Aku.

"Oh... yeah, I'm sorry." He says in a low voice.

"Theres nothing to worry about. After awhile, Aku Aku will just come back after protecting us from something." Crunch says.

"How does that even work?" Kairi asks. Crash shrugs.

"I always assumed it was just magic." Crunch says.

"Okay, done. Step through." Coco says. The Sora, Kairi, and the bandicoots step on glowing orange platform and are taken back to the bandicoots home.

* * *

**Elsewhere**

"Dr. Trophy, I would appreciate it if you were to give me the glove I designed." Cortex says to N. Trophy.

"What makes you think your getting it back?" N. Trophy asks.

"I was the one who figured out how to posses a keyblade even if one is not worthy! I was the one who designed the glove therefore, its mine!" Cortex demands.

"You forgot, you were also the one who lost our first keyblade. Thats why you're not getting this one." Trophy brings the Kingdom Key up to his face just to taunt him, to which Cortex growls.

"Uka Uka, please convince this idiot to hand back the heart mimicker glove." Cortex begs.

"You need to work on that name, man." N. Gin says in a low voice from the cockpit of the spaceship.

**"No Cortex. You have failed! Its only thanks to Trophy's efforts that we still have a chance to escape. He will wield it from now on, and you will stop your constant whining!" **Uka Uka demands.

"Y-yes, great Uka Uka." Cortex apologizes.

* * *

Once Sora, Kairi, and the bandicoots returned home, Coco got to work on the transporter saying, she was switching it to teleport them to the warp room which would allow them to teleport long distance. Aku Aku later arrives.

"What has happened since I was gone?" He asks upon entering.

"Well, Cortex got away and he has Sora's keyblade." Crunch tells him.

"How? A keyblade can only be used by one deemed worthy?" Aku Aku asks.

"He somehow made this glove that tricks the keyblade into thinking the person wearing it is worthy." Sora answers.

"It was how he managed to use mine." Kairi adds on.

"I see. Who might you be?" Aku Aku asks.

"I'm Kairi, you're Aku Aku, right?" Kairi responds.

"Yes, I am. Does Cortex still have your keyblade?" Aku Aku asks.

"No. Sora destroyed the glove that was mimicking my heart. He took of in some kind of spaceship after that." Kairi answers.

"I was thinking Cortex would go to another space station, but I don't know why." Coco says while she continues to work.

"Maybe the keyhole is not Earth." Aku Aku realizes.

"Keyhole? What would Uka Uka want with that?" Sora asks.

"I assume you've used similar keyholes to protect worlds from heartless?" Aku Aku asks, to which Sora nods. "The ones in these separated worlds have a dual function. Not only do they protect from the heartless turning the world to darkness, but they also serve in keeping my brother and I locked in. Now, I know for sure that the keyhole to this world is locked, but with your keyblade, it can easily be undone."

"If you know its been sealed, then do you know where it is?" Kairi asks.

"No. I do not. I only have theories. It could be on one of the planets we visited when we were kidnapped. It could be on Terra, Barin, Fenomina, Teknee, and possibly even Hyper Spaceway." Aku Aku answers.

"Or that Gasmoxia that Nitrous Oxide kept talking about." Crunch chimes in.

"Regardless of where it is, we must stop Cortex and Uka Uka from finding it." Aku Aku says.

"If he's going to other planets, he's probably on one of his space stations." Coco adds. "Thankfully, the warp room is already set to teleport us there. ...And I just set us up to teleport there."

"Good job, Coco." Aku Aku compliments.

"Now, lets go up Cortex's space station... again. It never gets old." Crunch says. The group steps through the teleporter and emerge in a room full of portals. "Ah, the warp room. Which one to the space station?"

Crash points to one of the portals to answer his question, however it is inactive.

"Ugh. I'm gonna need a crystal." Coco sighs. Crash rummages around in the back of his pants before pulling one out.

"Huh? Whoah!" Sora exclaims.

"How long have you had that in your pants?" Crunch asks to which Crash shrugs. Coco inserts the crystal into an opened panel inside the portal and it comes to life.

"Good job Crash. You always have what we need." Coco compliments. Crash smiles and does some quick dance that Sora and Kairi had never seen before.

"What was that?" Sora asks.

"Crash signature "Crash dance.". Feel free to join in the next time he does it." Coco explains to which Crash nods.

"We'll keep that in mind." Kairi replies. The group, then, runs through the portal and finds themselves in what appeared to be an observation deck for the station. Coco finds some computers nearby which she immediately hacks into.

"Does it say where Uka Uka is?" Kairi asks.

"No. This is the sensors computer for the ship. Luckily, I think I can modify it to find Sora's keyblade and therefore, Uka Uka." Coco replies.

"Great! How?" Sora asks.

"Cortex said he mimics the heart print of a person to use the keyblade." Coco starts as she holds up Cortex's destroyed glove. "With the help of this, I think I can reverse engineer it to search for a heart prints location."

"Great. While your doing that, the rest of us can search the ship on foot." Crunch says. "There are two ways to go from here. I'll go one way. Crash, go with Kairi on the other direction."

"Hey! What am I doing?" Sora asks.

"Your staying here. I'll need you to enter in what heart print I'm searching for. Besides, your disarmed of your keyblade and you can't fight without it... right?" Coco asks. Crash shrugs from behind Sora.

"She's right." Kairi says. "Its better for you to stay here." Sora sighs at this but quickly turned his mood around.

"I guess this is your chance to do something like you wanted."

"I guess so." Kairi smiles.

"Okay. Be safe. You too Crash." Sora says. Crash gives him a thumbs up before the two depart.

The mechanical door shut behind Kairi and Crash as they exited the observation room.

"Any idea where this could be?" Kairi asks. Crash scratches his head in thought. N. Trophy was never on any of Cortex's space stations, so he wouldn't know where a mad time lord would hang around. Crash answers her question with the quick shake of his head. "Okay, so we're just gonna run around here till we find him?" Crash shrugs as his way of saying 'don't have a better plan'.

The two turn back to the hallway to find it littered with heartless. Neoshadows to be exact. Crash pulls out his fruit bazooka and fires at one, causing it some damage and annoyance. It turns to see Crash insulting them by sticking his tongue at them. Kairi found the situation a bit funny. No one had insulted the heartless like this as far as she could recall. Eventually, Crash's taunting was noticed by the other neo shadows who began to charge at the two. Crash got into a battle ready position before looking to Kairi.

"Yes. I'm Ready." She says, getting into her battle position too. As the heartless get close, Crash performs a super body slam on the ground, and somehow knocks them away. Kairi takes this opportunity to cast some firaga's on the neoshadows before charging in and slashing the remaining ones. Crash meanwhile, was doing pretty good too. He was using his cyclone spin to attack the neoshadows and quickly retreat before sliding under them, knocking his target over. He finishes them off with another cyclone spin which finishes them.

"Good job." Kairi compliments. Crash offers a thumbs up as his form of endorsement. The next room was guarded by some strange robots with organic tentacles. "Ew! What are those!" Kairi exclaims. Crash only gives her a blank look. Right, he doesn't talk. Why is that anyway? Kairi wondered, but that can come later. Crash made so motions that Kairi could translate to 'watch me'.

Crash ran up to one of the creatures and looked to Kairi before pointing up. He then jumped onto the creature, shutting it down. He runs to another one, pointing down this time before sliding under this one, also shutting it down. He than regroups with Kairi.

"Sorry, I don't understand why you pointed up and down before defeating those enemy's." Kairi says.

Crash huffs in disappointment before getting on the ground and pretending to be one of the creatures, pointing his "tentacles" up, he then points to himself before going back to Crash, sliding around like he didi to the heartless. He then gets back into "robo monster mode" this time with the "tentacles" low to the ground, which he follows up as Crash jumping up and down.

"I think I understand. When the tentacles are up, hit them from below. When they are down, they're vulnerable from above." Kairi guesses to which Crash smiles and nods that she is correct.

Kairi then try's this on the remaining creatures, jumping up and smacking their top or casting thundaga, with her keyblade if the tentacles are up and if they were down, she'd cast a firaga aimed at their lowest point. The two did this with all the creatures in the room and in the next. What came after that was a room guarded by two lab assistants.

"I think this might be where Trophy is. It looks important, right?" Kairi asks, Crash nods in agreeance. The lab assistants ready their defences which was some lightning gloves used by one while the other readied some potions of some sort, probably to throw. Crash evaded the one's potions, spinning him into next week when he got close. Kairi, meanwhile ran straight for the lightning gloved one almost running into the electrical charge that was dispensed between his gloves. Kairi was surprised that even though she was stopped, the lab assistant didn't attack her. He only used the electricity as his shield before it wen't out. She then slashed him once with her keyblade which seemed to knock him out.

The two proceeded into the room they were guarding which seemed to be a dead end.

"Huh? Why guard this then?" Kairi asks. Crash scratches his head. This kind of room was familiar to him. Just what was it again? His question was answered when an alarm in the room blared. "Were we discovered?" Kairi worriedly asks. Crash takes Kairi's arm and leads her to the centre of the room. "What is it." She exclaims as she is taken. Suddenly, walls come up from the floor and attached something to the pairs back. After this, the walls collapse and the two begin to float around the room. The gravity had been turned off.

Crash, naturally, gains complete control of his jet pack and flys so he would be facing towards Kairi, who was struggling to do the same. Trying to move forward, caused her accidentally move up u til she banged her head on the ceiling.

"Ugh, how is this done?" Kairi groans. Crash flys up beside her and points at two triggers on her jetpacks handles. Kairi thought these might be for some kind of weapons system, but she pulls the triggers anyway and she moves forward. "Thanks." She thanks Crash. The wall that previously blocked the pair, then opened to reveal a glass tube that allowed the two to see out into space. "Its so pretty." Kairi says as she looks out of the tube.

Unfortunately, it looked like it wouldn't be a completely smooth ride there as there seemed to be large, live, loose wires floating about along with lasers firing about and exposed hot tubes. Crash makes his way though them and motions Kairi to follow. Very slowly, she makes her way past the obstacles, taking a lot of time to get past the wires. (She swore, the ends seemed to follow her wherever she went) Eventually, she makes it past them and joins with Crash to find a lone lab assistant with a jet pack and lightning gloves guarding a force field protected door. Crash flys up to him when he is vulnerable and knocks him into the force field causing it to shut down and the door to open.

Getting into the next room, the gravity is turned on and Crash and Kairi's jetpacks are removed.

"This must be it." Kairi says. Crash nods, agreeing with her before rushing into the next room and taking a battle ready stance. However, who they find is not N. Trophy. Instead, they find a teenage girl with shot black hair, metal hands, and a lower case n on her forehead.

"Wha? Your not Uncle Cortex!" She exclaims, looking like she was getting ready for battle herself.

"Cortex has a brother?" Kairi questions. Crash shrugs. He never actually thought about that.

"The names, Nina. And you've just walk into the worst spot to be Crash!" Nina exclaims, extending her metal hands to a ridiculous length to bring herself up to an elevated platform.

"Where's Trophy?" Kairi demands. Nina looks to her with a few moments of silence before speaking.

"Who are you again?" Nina asks.

"Does it matter?" Kairi asks, pointing Destiny's Embrace at her.

"I suppose not. It doesn't matter whats in the trash bag when its taken out." Nina taunts before grabbing barrels of some kind with her long arms and flinging them at the two. Kairi and Crash avoid the barrels hurled towards them as Nina prepares more. Crash pulls out his bazooka and takes aim as more barrels are thrown at him, though Kairi comes in and protects Crash with a reflect spell. This is just enough time for Crash to shoot a barrel near Nina, causing it to explode and launch her off her platform. She quickly recovers and extends her arms to hold Crash down. Kairi then comes up behind her and slashes her a few times before letting Crash go and performing a much slower, yet more powerful, cyclone spin which gets past Kairi's guard and knocks her across the room.

"I thought you key people were supposed to be all powerful." Nina taunts before Dodging past an oncoming Crash and lifting herself back up to her platform.

"Not all powerful." Kairi admits. "But we are full of surprises." She then activates her shot lock and fires, letting multiple light balls rain down on Nina and her "ammunition" destroying all the barrels and knocking the wind out of Nina. As the dust clears, Nina can be see stumbling about clearly stunned. "Give me a lift?" She asks Crash to which he nods.

Kairi gets a running start, and with Crash boosting her up, she jumps up to Nina's platform to deliver one final smack to the head knocking her out.

"Well. That wasn't so bad." Kairi says. Something begins buzzing in the room. Upon closer inspection, the sound is coming from Crash's pants. He pulls out what seemed to be a communicator device and activates it.

"Crash!" The voice of Coco comes from it. "I found Sora's heart print, well the duplicate. He's down the direction Crunch just traveled, he won't stand a chance on his own!"

"Don't worry Coco, we'll help him." Kairi assures.

"Good. Sora and I are gonna move to a computer closer to Trophy's location incase backup is ever needed." Coco says.

"Wait, how do you know if another computer will be near Trophy?" Sora can be heard asking.

"Uh, just looked it up in the station specs using this computer. Not that hard." Coco flatly states.

"Yeah... right?" Sora sheepishly replies.

"Anyway, see you guys soon." Coco signs off.

"We'll better get to Crunch fast." Kairi says. Crash nods rather quickly, clearly concerned for his adoptive brother. The two make their way back through the jetpack section and the numerous amounts of hallways until they arrived back in the observation room that they started. "Looks like Sora and Coco have already moved." Kairi notes, noticing their absence. "We should get moving too." Crash nods and motions over to the door Crunch went through.

The two pass through the door and find destroyed robots and lab assistants on their way through the hallway. Everything from that point onward was clear since Crunch had already come through here. Eventually, the two enter a large rounded room that seemingly had nothing in it. To the left, a small window could be seen with Sora and Coco on the other side. Sora was able to spare a wave once he saw the two. After that, the middle of the room opened up and N. Trophy came up from it on an elevator the same size.

"Well, well, haven't we gotten far for a little girl and a marsupial." Trophy taunts as he enters. Kairi summons Destiny's Embrace while Crash gets in a fighting position. "You may be wondering where Uka Uka is. He is attending to other matters, like finding that keyhole."

"So, what makes you think you can beat me without him." Kari taunts.

"Simple really, your more inexperienced then the boy. With his power at my finger tips along with my own, defeating the bandicoot that has beat me time and time again along with a girl who thinks she can play at being a keyblade wielder will be an easy task." Trophy smiles. "But before we get along with that, I have something else to show you." A door opens to reveal Crunch, knocked out in a glass cage.

Crash face morphs to one of anger once he see's his adoptive brother in a cage.

"Crunch!" Coco exclaims.

"Don't bother hacking him out of there. The only computer terminal connected to that is on the bridge, which would take to long to even get to." Trophy tells them.

Crash runs up to the cage and try's what ever he can to open the cage.

"I'm afraid there's only one way to manually open the cage. By the time you find it, my fight will be over and Crunch will be dropped off the station to either freeze in the cold of space, or get caught in Earth's gravity and have the impact of the fall kill him." After Trophy adds this, the door showing off Crunch closes with Crash still inside.

"I thought You could take on me and Crash at the same time." Kairi taunts.

"I can. I just want this to take as much time as possible. No need to rush enjoyment." Trophy answers. "Now little girl where were we?"

"Its Kairi." She answers angrily.

"Kairi then." Trophy summons Kingdom Key using the glove and wields it alongside a silver staff of some kind. "You are on my time now." Several small mechanical devices on small arms surround N. Trophy and rotate around him. "And I don't take kindly to guests."

"This "guest" will leave you very surprised then." Kairi spits back. The devices emit a beam of some sort (they look like the ones in Nitro Fueled's Electron Avenue), one on the top and another on the bottom, cutting Kairi off from the rest of the room. There are four of these gates covering the room in total. A shield, curtesy of Trophy's own magic appears around him.

"Very well then. Your on the clock now! Lets see how much time you will last." Trophy says.

The electric gates began revolving around N. Trophy, so Kairi ran along side them until he began using his staff to fire off laser beams at her from above which she had to work to dodge along with moving forward so as to not get caught by the beams.

Eventually, they shut off but Trophy's shield was still up.

"You haven't impressed me!" Kairi exclaims.

"I'm just getting warmed up. Your time is running out." Trophy blankly states. He then begins casting firaga at Kairi which she avoids. He continues using firaga while adding in his own laser beams which Kairi doesn't find the latter too had to dodge.

As he is doing this, the laser beams stop and his shield goes down. It seemed his own magic level was kept separate from the keyblade. Kairi takes this opportunity to perform her "seven wishes" move on him, performing multiple dash attacks in quick succession before his shield comes up.

Once it is up, so do the electric gates come up too. They begin to move again, this time just a little bit faster.

"I have learned this with my own magic recently. It seems you've crossed me at the wrong time." Trophy says, before summoning four transparent clones of himself that lacked the keyblade. These are the N. Trophy ghosts.

"Ugh, would you stop making time puns?" Kairi groans to herself as the ghosts move in for close range attack. Kairi deflects a strike from one and hits back, causing the ghost to dissolve. 'Not very durable.' Kairi thinks as she thundaga's two more out of existence before narrowly dodging one of the original N. Trophy's laser beams.

He throws more down as Kairi dodges them over to the last ghost which she briefly sword fights (or staff and keyblade fights if your picky) until she strikes him down.

The gates dissolve and Trophy casts a blizzaga that actually hits Kairi and freezes her feet to the floor. He then leaps out of his spot, with his shield still up and comes down on Kairi, doing a lot of damage.

Kairi gets back up from being knocked down and casts curaga as Trophy leaps back to the center of the room. Kairi then gets out the keychain Mando got her. She's seen Sora do this all the time so she thought it wouldn't hurt to do so herself as she switched the keychain and her keyblade chained. Gone was the bright gold, replaced with a bright silver that looked like the same material as Mando's armour. The guards around the grip were more square in shape along with the shaft while at the end was three horns of the skull that the keychain had. This keyblade was called "The way" (**Shitty name? Leave a suggestion for a better one in the reviews**)

"Hmm. Interesting." Trophy observed, wondering how he himself could change the keyblades form.

"Why don't I introduce you to it personally." Kairi offers.

"Another time. Now, I need to focus on eliminating you." Trophy says, starting the gates up again. This time the two sections split of from each other and move opposite ways causing Kairi to have to jump over and slide under the barriers as Trophy threw more of his lasers at her. Needless to say, it was exhausting. Finally, the barriers came down and Trophy cloned himself again, while firing more blizzaga.

Kairi figures out how to form change her keyblade, and the shaft and stock simply disappear, leaving a handle that now is emanating a black light in the form of a sword. She strikes down a Trophy ghost before dodging a blizzaga that hits another ghost.

"Friendly fire much?" Kairi asks.

"Foolish girl. They are insignificant." Trophy says before firing another blizzaga that is dodged. The other clones are defeated and Trophy's shield comes down, this time it looks as if Trophy has a killer headache, must be the side effect from using all that magic. Kairi takes this opportunity to attack using the dark-saber she still had.

Though the blade seemed to pass through Trophy when it hit him, it did still seem to hurt him. 'Guess it was a safe guard so I wouldn't kill him.' Kairi thinks, relived. Soon, the headache stopped, and Kairi was pushed back by the replenished shield.

"I may have underestimated you. A mistake that I will rectify." Trophy says as the electric gates spark back online. This time, they continue as they did the second time they were activated, the only difference being they would change directions every now and then.

During this, Trophy was still firing his laser beams at Kairi, which did as much as they did the previous times he used them. Eventually, the electric gates split off and continued from there, minus the switching directions. Kairi was forced to jump and slide under certain gates again, this time, Trophy wasn't firing anything at her though.

Guess he wised up and started to conserve his magic or something. After the gates went down, Trophy started casting thundaga which was the most difficult spell to dodge. Still, she evaded most of them, only getting hit a few times before Trophy stopped and willingly dropped his shield.

What happened next, was a big f-you to everything that had happened previously. Trophy cast curaga on himself.

"The keyblade is even more powerful than I imagined. All the damage and exhaustion, gone in an instant." He says. Trophy did not put back up his shield, rather he lunged at Kairi for a melee attack. The two traded blows with the keyblades and staff, Trophy occasionally hitting Kairi with one or the other.

Eventually, Kairi used reflect at the right time and sent Trophy flying back. Still in mid air, Kairi performed "seven wishes" again and on her last pass, snatched off the heart print glove before getting smacked back by Trophy's staff, causing her to lose her grip over it and send it flying to another part of the room. As Kairi recovers, Trophy makes a break for the glove only to hear the sound of glass shattering ahead of him.

Looking up, he saw Sora, Kingdom Key in hand, had smashed through the glass and was heading toward him. Trophy blocked the incoming attack with his staff.

"Foolish boy. Once I get that glove again, you'll be defenceless."

"Then, you won't get it." Sora simply states. Behind Sora, Trophy spots Kairi raising her keyblade above her head to destroy the glove.

"No!" Trophy cries out. However, before the keyblade can make contact with the glove, it flys away from Kairi, right into the hands of Dr. Cortex.

Cortex can only slowly laugh at the situation.

"Now, I have control of that power again." He states, summoning Kingdom Key away from Sora and to himself. "And I must say, I like the look of this keyblade more than the last one. Less... colourful."

Kairi gets ready to fight Cortex this time, despite the fact she is out of breath from fighting Trophy.

"Seems, I don't need Uka Uka to have an advantage over you." Cortex says.

"I... wouldn't be... so sure..." Kairi breathes. Looking behind Cortex, realizing he made a critical error. Behind Cortex, Kairi spies Crash and Crunch coming up on him. Before he knows what hit him, Crash cyclone spins Cortex, knocking him off balance. Crunch then picks him up and holds him high above the ground so his feet don't touch the ground.

"I think you have to much power little man." Crunch says. Crash takes this opportunity to swipe the glove off Cortex. As Coco joins the group, Sora asks.

"Where is Aku Aku?" Noticing the shaman masks absence.

"Oh, yeah. He's the reason Uka Uka isn't here." Coco answered. "He went to distract him earlier."

"Okay, good enough for me. Crash, would you do the honours?" Sora asks.

Crash nods before dropping the glove and stepping on it, destroying its intricate system.

"No! There won't be enough time to make another one and download a meaningful heart print!" Cortex cries out.

"Good." Kairi tells him. It is at this time Aku Aku shows up.

"Quickly, Uka Uka is not far behind me." Aku Aku says. Crunch throws Cortex into the wall before group then makes their quick escape from the room. The six make run until they are back at the observation deck before stopping.

"Where to now?" Kairi asks.

"Stay close. I can get us out of here." Aku Aku sort of answers. The group huddles around him and in a flash of light, they are back at the bandicoot home.

"It is finished." Aku Aku says. Every breathes a sigh of relief.

"Wonder whats gonna happen to that big head, Cortex once Uka Uka finds out he lost the keyblade." Crunch wonders aloud.

"Nothing gentle I would assume." Aku Aku guesses. he then turns to the keyblade wielders. "Thank you for ensuring Uka Uka does not escape this world."

"Of coarse. No biggy." Sora says.

"The duty of a keyblade wielder is to save worlds from darkness. It doesn't just mean the heartless." Kairi adds.

"Of coarse. Before you go, I must ask one more favour of you." Aku Aku adds. "On any of the lost worlds you pass by, find their keyhole and seal it. Not just for protection against my brother, but to also ensure the heartless do not have the worlds fall to darkness."

"As keyblade wielders, we swear we will accomplish this task." Sora says before looking to Kairi. "Right?"

"Yes." Kairi agrees. Crash makes some nosies before Aku Aku translates.

"He says before you go, would you like to perform his signature dance with him?" Aku Aku asks. Sora smiles at this.

"I was hoping you'd ask." He says. Everyone, including Coco, Crunch, and Kairi line up and perform the "Crash dance" with Sora and Crash. After its over, its time for goodbyes.

"I know its unlikely, but I hope we see you guys again." Crunch says.

"I hope so too." Kairi says.

"Even if we never meet again, our hearts are connected. With that it'll be like we never left." Sora says.

"I dunno about all that, but I think I can live with it." Coco smiles.

"Farewell Sora and Kairi. Have a safe journey." Aku Aku says.

"Thanks." With that he turns to Kairi. "Ready?"

"Yes." Kairi smiles. With that, Sora opens a portal. The way back home.


End file.
